Gastritis and peptic ulcer disease

Summary

This chapter groups the clinically distinct, but similarly treated, entities of gastritis and peptic ulcer disease (GPUD). It focuses on patients with organic disease, with some concluding notes on the challenging management of functional dyspepsia. The most basic treatment for patients with GPUD is administration of antacids. A typical trial finds that administration of colloidal bismuth subcitrate provides significant pain relief in just over half of patients with either gastritis or duodenitis. The reason that agents such as antacids and bismuth salts are reserved for occasional symptomatic relief is that more consistent success is achieved with newer agents such as the proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). The PPIs also relieve symptoms better than does the gastroprotective agent sucralfate when altered gastroduodenal motility is a postulated occasional cause of gastritis, the prokinetic drugs have been employed to treat GPUD.