[Dyspepsia: a more complex approach]

Abstract

Dyspepsia is defined as epigastric pain that lasts at least one month and may be associated with a range of other upper gastrointestinal symptoms. Approximately 2/3 of outpatients with dyspepsia have a functional dyspepsia. The clinical assessment of dyspepsia is based on age of patients as well and the search for severity criteria. The endoscopy in cases of new-onset dyspepsia is recommended from an age of 55-60 and the presence of at least 1 severity criteria. A non-invasive test for Helicobacter pylori (HP) should be performed in all patients and followed by HP eradication when HP test is positive. The first-choice treatment of functional dyspepsia is a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) at maximal dose for 8 weeks. A therapeutic trial with a prokinetic or a central neuromodulator are alternatives to consider in case of failure of PPI treatment.