Nosography of X-ray negative dyspepsia

The clinical pictures of 109 patients with X-ray negative dyspepsia (XND) are described, and a comparison is made with the clinical pictures of 39 gastric ulcer patients and 61 duodenal ulcer patients. In addition it has been attempted to subdivide XND into clinically relevant subgroups by means of a Venn diagram. The XND patients were characterized by an equal sex distribution and, in comparison with the ulcer patients, a shorter length of history. The upper abdominal pain was less frequently relieved by eating and more frequently provoked by eating in XND than in ulcer disease. The XND patients also suffered more frequently from irritable colon symptoms. Endoscopy only revealed an ulcer in 11 patients with XND, and the clinical pictures of these patients differed from those of patients with radiologically demonstrated ulcers. The clinical pictures of XND are further analysed in the context of current hypotheses, and it is concluded that Venn diagrams are useful for the analysis of heterogeneous clinical syndromes.