PMID: 3772578Mar 1, 1986Paper

Empiric antacids and reassurance for acute dyspepsia

Journal of General Internal Medicine
J D GoodsonR G Pingree

Abstract

The evaluation of ambulatory patients with dyspepsia frequently includes upper gastrointestinal radiographs (UGIs), a practice of unproven value in low-risk patients. To assess an alternative management strategy without UGIs, 28 patients with upper abdominal pain seen in an adult medical walk-in practice were treated with high-dose antacid therapy for three weeks. The clinical course on antacid therapy was good; 68% of patients reported substantial improvement. Initial requests for UGIs were high among both patients and physicians. Following empiric antacid therapy, requests for UGIs fell from 68% to 32% for patients (p = 0.05) and from 71% to 21% for physicians (p = 0.001). No serious complications were detected after 18 months of follow up. Direct medical charges were reduced by 37%. Empiric antacid therapy for patients at low risk for serious disease relieves dyspepsia and reduces both patient and physician requests for UGIs.

References

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