Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0017168 (gastroesophageal reflux disease)
 11,783 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Esophageal pain that manifests as heartburn or chest pain, is a prevalent problem. Esophageal chest pain is most often caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), but can also result from inflammatory processes, infections involving the esophagus, and contractions of the esophageal muscle. The mechanisms and pathways of esophageal chest pain are poorly understood. Vagal and spinal afferent pathways carry sensory information from the esophagus. Recently, esophageal hypersensitivity is identified as an important factor in the development of esophageal pain. A number of techniques are available to evaluate esophageal chest pain such as endoscopy and/or proton-pump inhibitor trial, esophageal manometry, a combined impedance-pH study, and esophageal ultrasound imaging. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) have the huge success in the treatment of GERD. Other drugs such as imipramine, trazadone, sertraline, tricyclics, and theophylline have been introduced for the control of esophageal chest pain in partial responders to PPI and the patients with esophageal hypersensitivity. Novel drugs which act on different targets are anticipated to treat esophageal pain in the future.
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PMID:[Diagnosis and management of esophageal chest pain]. 2038 74

Noncardiac chest pain is a term that encompasses all causes of chest pain after a cardiac source has been excluded. This article focuses on esophageal sources for chest pain. Esophageal chest pain (ECP) is common, affects quality of life, and carries a substantial health care burden. The lack of a systematic approach toward the diagnosis and treatment of ECP has led to significant disability and increased health care costs for this condition. Identifying the underlying cause(s) or mechanism(s) for chest pain is key for its successful management. Common etiologies include gastroesophageal reflux disease, esophageal hypersensitivity, dysmotility, and psychological conditions, including panic disorder and anxiety. However, the pathophysiology of this condition is not yet fully understood. Randomized controlled trials have shown that proton pump inhibitor therapy (either omeprazole, lansoprazole, or rabeprazole) can be effective. Evidence for the use of antidepressants and the adenosine receptor antagonist theophylline is fair. Psychological treatments, notably cognitive behavioral therapy, may be useful in select patients. Surgery is not recommended. There remains a large unmet need for identifying the phenotype and prevalence of pathophysiologic mechanisms of ECP as well as for well-designed multicenter clinical trials of current and novel therapies.
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PMID:A Review of Esophageal Chest Pain. 2713 90