ABSTRACT
Dyspepsia is a term that refers to symptoms believed to originate in the upper gastrointestinal tract, including epigastric pain or fullness, belching, regurgitation, nausea, vomiting, and bad breath. A working party report subdivided the syndrome of non-ulcer dyspepsia into reflux type, ulcer type, dysmotility type, and essential type. Specific treatment cannot be offered, and is usually ineffective; thus, non-ulcer dyspepsia is frustrating both to the unrelieved patient and the helpless doctor. Some non-ulcer dyspepsia patients are infected with Helicobacter pylori, and therefore may benefit from anti-H. pylori therapy. In several papers the effect of triple therapy on eradication of H. pylori in duodenal ulcer patients was reported. If the diagnosis of “non-ulcer dyspepsia not related to H. pylori” is made, a new therapeutic challenge occurs. The discovery of H. pylori indicated that histological gastritis could be due to a “simple” bacterial infection for which “simple” antibacterial treatment would be effective.
