Furthermore, the diagnostic criteria and www.selleckchem.com/products/AG-014699.html classification scheme have been changing in the past two decades. Management of functional dyspepsia has been disappointing and effective treatment is still lacking. In this issue of JGH, a consensus report on functional dyspepsia has been prepared by a group of opinion leaders in Asia.1 In this report, a critical appraisal is conducted on various topics related to functional dyspepsia in Asia. There is also a comprehensive

review on the current practice, which includes diagnosis and management, of functional dyspepsia. There are several merits in this report. The report highlights some distinct clinical characteristics of functional dyspepsia that are unique to Asian patients. For example, Asian patients tend to have higher proportion of

postprandial distress syndrome. Some important differential diagnoses of dyspepsia, which are far less common in Western population, are emphasized. These include parasitic infestation and hepatocellular carcinoma due to high prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection in this region. Instead of endorsing the statements of the Rome criteria, this report casts doubt on the validity of the Rome diagnostic criteria for functional dyspepsia in Asian patients. Since dyspepsia is transient and self-limiting in many patients, it is prudent for the Rome criteria to establish a minimum requirement of 6 months for the diagnosis so as to avoid over-diagnosis.2 However, significant morbidity occurs Staurosporine price as early as 4 weeks after the onset

of dyspepsia in many Asian patients. Furthermore, owing to the marked ethnic difference in cultural and linguistic origin, there may be substantial variation in the accuracy of Rome criteria in Asian population and further validation not studies are needed. For the management of functional dyspepsia, this report also underscores the possible inferior therapeutic benefit of proton pump inhibitor, presumably due to the lower prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease in Asian patients with functional dyspepsia. Helicobacter pylori infection is another important topic that is significantly different from the Western counterparts. In the Rome criteria, there is no need to exclude H. pylori infection for the diagnosis of functional dyspepsia. Compared with the Western population, however, the prevalence of H. pylori and its related diseases such as peptic ulcer and gastric cancer are much higher in Asian population. These conditions are the major differential diagnoses of functional dyspepsia, even in the absence of alarm symptom. Furthermore, the prevalence of a virulent strain of H. pylori is substantially higher in Asian populations. It has also been postulated that severe corpus-predominant gastritis is more commonly seen in Asian patients.3 This may contribute to higher risk of gastric atrophy and gastric cancer. Owing to these virulent factors, it has been proposed that H.