Clinical Algorithms Project

Education Program » Clinical Algorithms Project




Developed by the Rome Foundation and published in the April 2010 issue of The American Journal of Gastroenterology, the new tool, Diagnostic Algorithms for Common Gastrointestinal Symptoms, provides an evidence-based approach to the diagnosis of functional gastrointestinal disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and functional dyspepsia, by providing diagnostic pathways for common symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, and constipation. These clinically meaningfully diagnostic algorithms are based on the consensus of numerous experts, use standard methods and yes-no decision trees, and all end in specific diagnoses, providing clinicians with the best diagnostic strategies currently available.

The Rome Foundation has for years recognized the limitations of the diagnostic criteria for functional GI disorders they developed known widely as "the Rome Criteria" - a standardized classification system for the functional GI disorders, which, until now, did not include a clinical application component. The new diagnostic tool is the result of a two-year collaborative process that incorporates symptoms-based criteria and other diagnostic information into clinical algorithms that can be easily understood and applied in the clinical setting.

The Rome Foundation gratefully acknowledges the Algorithm Project Sponsors, Procter & Gamble, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Synergy, Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Zeria Pharmaceuticals.


To Access our Online Interactive Algorithms, click here.

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Algorithm Publication and Access

  • The Rome Foundation Clinical Algorithms were published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology. Please see the Journal Website to access them.
  • The Rome Foundation Clinical Algorithms were recently published in Spanish in the Revista de Gastroenterología de México (Mexican Journal of Gastroenterology) in November 2010. Please see the Mexican Journal Website to access them.

Rome Foundation copyright policy and licensing fee schedules for translations and
usage of these items and products are now available. Please contact Michele Pickard at [email protected]

Journal Editors:
John Kellow MD, Editor
Douglas A. Drossman, Associate Editor


Project Administration:
John Kellow, MD, Co-Chair
Henry Parkman, MD, Co-Chair
Carlar Blackman, Project Manager

Esophageal Disorders
Peter J. Kahrilas, MD
Northwestern University
Chicago, IL, USA

André J.P.M. Smout, MD, PhD
University Hospital
Utrecht, GA
THE NETHERLANDS


Gastroduodenal Disorders
Jan Tack, MD, PhD
University Hospitals Leuven
University of Leuven
Leuven, BELGIUM

Nicholas J. Talley, MD, PhD
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Jacksonville, FL, USA


Bowel Disorders
Robin C. Spiller, MD
Wolfson Digestive Disease Centre
University Hospital, Nottingham
Nottingham, UK

W. Grant Thompson, MD
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, ON, CANADA

Anorectal Disorders
Adil E. Bharucha, MBBS, MD
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Rochester, MN, USA

Arnold Wald, MD
University of Wisconsin School
of Medicine and Public Health
Madison, WI, USA


Functional Abdominal Pain Syndrome (FAPS)
Douglas A. Drossman, MD
UNC Center for Functional GI
& Motility Disorders
Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Ami D. Sperber, MD, MSPH
Soroka Medical Center
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Beer-Sheva, ISRAEL


Gallbladder and Sphincter of Oddi Disorders
Enrico Corazziari, MD
Università "La Sapienza"
Roma, ITALY

Peter B. Cotton MD, FRCP, FRCS
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, SC, USA