Many patients being treated with ac...

Many patients being treated with acid suppression medications for peptic boil disease (PUD) have been diagnosed based forward their symptoms alone and have not had the diagnosis confirmed on an x-ray or endoscopy, according to a May 27 2003 novels release from Kaiser Permanente. In a consideration designed to evaluate the effectiveness of testing and treating patients for Helicobacter pylori (Hp) bacteria infection, researchers construct that of 650 patients diagnosed with PUD alone 17% had undergone x-ray or endoscopy to document the disease, and fewer than 40% experimented positive for Hp. All of the patients were taking acid suppression medication, and 28% had taken these medications for six years or longer

meditation results suggest that most ot these patients actually were suffering from dyspepsia--upper abdominal pain or discomfort that is everyday in Western countries. The researchers advise that if patients with undocumented PUD still are experiencing ulcer-like symptoms after undergoing acid-suppression therapy for undivided year, they should have an x-ray or endoscopy rather than simply continuing to take these medications and before undergoing testing for Hp

Kaiser Permanente Research: Many Patients forward Acid-suppressing Drugs for Ulcer Disease Have Neither sore s Nor H.pylori Infection (news release, Oakland, Calif: Kaiser Permanente, May 27 2003) http://www.prnewswire.com (accessed 27 May 2003)

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