A positive diagnostic strategy should be followed with patients who have symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) rather than a strategy of exclusion, new clinical guidelines say.

In its first clinical practice guidance for managing the disorder, the American College of Gastroenterology says a positive strategy will improve time to treatment and reduce costs.

The development of the guideline follows advances in diagnostic testing and therapeutic options and involved critical evaluation of available data covering nine diagnostic testing issues and 16 treatment options.

The expert panel used Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology to develop its advice, published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.