A Comparative Study of Epigastric Pain Syndrome and Postprandial Distress Syndrome in Personality, Helicobacter Pylori Infection, Gastric Emptying and Response to Lansoprazole Treatment

Functional dyspepsia is a common clinical disorder with significant impact on quality of life and with enormous social cost. Previous studies have revealed that functional dyspepsia is not a homogenous disease but a heterogenous symptom complex. Because of heterogeneity in etiology and pathogenesis, no specific treatment is appropriate for all patients with functional dyspepsia. Currently available treatments demonstrated efficacy only in subsets of patients.

Appropriate subgrouping of functional dyspepsia, which categorizes more homogenous patients into the same group, will correlate better with specific etiologic factors and pathogenetic mechanisms. Consequently patients may have appropriate specific treatment based on more directed pathologenesis and subgrouping. To this end, American Gastroenterology Association launched new edition of clinical guide for functional gastrointestinal disorder, the Rome III in May 2006. The new diagnostic criteria of Rome III de-emphasized functional dyspepsia as an entity and recommended sub-classification into two conditions: postprandial distress syndrome and epigastric pain syndrome. However whether this new diagnostic criteria and systems are effective and clinically relevant remains unknown.

Aims:

We aim to compare postprandial distress syndrome and epigastric pain syndrome in demographics psychological features, infection of Helicobacter pylori, gastric emptying and therapeutic response to lansoprazole.