The Pain System in Oesophageal Disorders: Mechanisms, Clinical Characteristics, and Treatment

Table 2

Clinical characteristics of different reflux disorders.

Disease	Visible lesions on endoscopy	24 h pH	Typical symptoms	Symptom response to PPI	Symptom response to placebo
ERD	Yes (erosions)	Positive	Heartburn	Very good (app. 60 to 80%) [90, 91]	Very poor (app. 10%) [90, 92]
NERD	No	Variable	Heartburn	Intermediate to good (app. 40% [90] to 70% [93])	Very poor (app. 15%) [90, 92]*
Barrett’s oesophagus	Yes (Barrett mucosa)	Positive	Heartburn, none	Intermediate	?
FCP/FH	No	Negative	Heartburn, chest pain	Intermediate (app. 50%) [94]	Very poor (app. 5%) [94]

*Including FCP; 24-hour pH: typical results of 24-hour oesophageal pH monitoring (positive if time with pH < 4 is above 5%); PPI: proton pump inhibitor; app.: approximately; ERD: erosive reflux disease; NERD: nonerosive reflux disease; FCP: functional chest pain; FH: functional heartburn; ?: insufficient data.