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Established and Emerging Treatment Options for Functional Heartburn and Chest Pain

  • Esophagus (E Dellon, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Gastroenterology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

Functional heartburn and functional chest pain of presumed esophageal origin are characterized by symptoms suggesting an esophageal origin, but negative work-up on routine investigations, including ruling out gastroesophageal reflux disease. Visceral hypersensitivity is a potentially unifying pathophysiological concept, thought to underlie these disorders. In addition, there is important overlap with other functional disorders and psychiatric co-morbidity. This review summarizes current concepts on definition, diagnosis, and treatment options for functional heartburn and functional chest pain of presumed esophageal origin. Antidepressants are frequently used in these conditions, where they are presumed to act as neuromodulators of visceral hypersensitivity. There is a need for high-quality trials evaluating the efficacy of antidepressants and more specific neuromodulators, such as pregabalin, in functional esophageal disorders.

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  1. TARGID, University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, B-3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Jan Tack MD, PhD, Tim Vanuytsel MD, PhD & Ans Pauwels PhD

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Correspondence to Jan Tack MD, PhD.

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Tim Vanuytsel and Ans Pauwels declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Jan Tack reports money to institution for advice or lecture from AlfaWassermann, Almirall, AstraZeneca, Danone, Ironwood, Janssen, Menarini, Mylan, Novartis, Nutricia, Rhythm, Shionogi, Shire, SKLife, Takeda, Theravance, Tsumura, Yuhan, and Zeria.

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Tack, J., Vanuytsel, T. & Pauwels, A. Established and Emerging Treatment Options for Functional Heartburn and Chest Pain. Curr Treat Options Gastro 14, 19–27 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11938-016-0081-3

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