[Treatment of acute gastrointestinal pain.]

Abdominal pain is an important and the most frequent symptom of acute gastrointestinal diseases; crucial hints on the diagnosis can be gleaned from its location and from associated symptoms and signs. As symptomatic therapy the treatment of pain plays a major role in acute gastrointestinal diseases, e.g. the acute abdomen, acute pancreatitis, biliary colic, peptic ulcer disease and diverticulitis. Acute pain arising from peptic ulcer disease is effectively treated with the H(+)-, K(+)-ATPase inhibitor omeprazole or one of the H(2)-receptor antagonists. While moderate to severe pain caused by these conditions can be effectively treated by intravenous administration of nonopioid analgesic drugs, supplemented by butylscopolamine in a biliary colic, more severe pain or inadequate responsiveness to nonopioid analgesic drugs requires the intravenous administration of a highly potent opioid. Acute severe pain arising from biliary colic and acute pancreatitis should be treated with an opioid that does not influence the sphincter of Oddi or the pressure in the common bile duct, e.g. buprenorphine, nalbuphine or tramadol. An effective but not widely known therapy for colic pain is parenteral administration of a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, e.g. indomethacin or diclofenac.