A Diagnostic Approach to Dyspepsia

Abstract

Based on recent consensus documents, dyspepsia is defined as predominant epigastric pain lasting at least 1 month. Patients with dyspepsia commonly report associated symptoms including epigastric burning, early satiety, postprandial fullness, and nausea. The differential diagnosis for dyspepsia is broad, which warrants a focused diagnostic evaluation influenced by patient age and the presence of alarm features. Important organic etiologies of dyspepsia include gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and malignancy, which are found in approximately 25% of patients. The remaining 75% who exhibit negative diagnostic testing have functional dyspepsia, which is discussed separately in Chap. 8.