Functional Dyspepsia: Evaluation and Management

Functional dyspepsia is defined as at least one month of epigastric discomfort without evidence of organic disease found during an upper endoscopy, and it accounts for 70% of dyspepsia. Symptoms of functional dyspepsia include postprandial fullness, early satiety, and epigastric pain or burning. Functional dyspepsia is a diagnosis of exclusion; therefore, evaluation for a more serious disease such as an upper gastrointestinal malignancy is warranted. Individual alarm symptoms do not correlate with malignancy for patients younger than 60 years, and endoscopy is not necessarily warranted but should be considered for patients with severe or multiple alarm symptoms. For patients younger than 60 years, a test and treat strategy for Helicobacter pylori is recommended before acid suppression therapy. For patients 60 years or older, upper endoscopy should be performed. All patients should be advised to limit foods associated with increased symptoms of dyspepsia; a diet low in FODMAPs (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols) is suggested. Eight weeks of acid suppression therapy is recommended for patients who test negative for H. pylori, or who continue to have symptoms after H. pylori eradication. If acid suppression does not alleviate symptoms, patients should be treated with tricyclic antidepressants followed by prokinetics and psychological therapy. The routine use of complementary and alternative medicine therapies has not shown evidence of effectiveness and is not recommended. Copyright (C) 2020 American Academy of Family Physicians.