Prevention and Treatment of NSAID Gastropathy

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) treatment will be necessary as part of our therapeutic armamentarium for many years to come. Therefore, safe prescription is mandatory in order to prevent adverse events. In the last two decades, new strategies and new drugs have been developed to reduce NSAID-associated upper gastrointestinal (GI) adverse events. Although the implementation of guidelines into clinical practice takes time, several studies have shown a recent and profound decrease in hospitalizations due to upper GI complications, which has been linked to widespread use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), better NSAID prescription, and decreased prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection. This is encouraging.Safe NSAID prescription should be straightforward since the most relevant aspects are clinical in nature. Before issuing any prescription, three key questions should be considered:1) Is NSAID treatment necessary for this patient?2) What cardiovascular (CV) and GI risk factors does this patient have?3) What is the most suitable NSAID for this patient?GI and CV risk are easy to estimate, and we know that these risks are not the same for all NSAIDs. Selective cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitors, like celecoxib at usual doses, carry the lowest GI risk and are the best option in patients with moderate/high GI risk without high CV risk. Gastroprotective therapy (PPI as the drug of choice) should be considered if a non-selective NSAID is prescribed. For those at the highest risk, a combination of PPI plus a coxib is the best option. Also, eradication of H. pylori infection in patients with previous peptic ulcer or in NSAID-naïve users must be considered. Naproxen is the best option in patients with high CV risk and low/moderate GI risk.Patients taking aspirin represent a real challenge for treatment, since interaction with frequently prescribed NSAIDs (e.g. ibuprofen/naproxen) may alter its antiplatelet effect, representing a potential clinical problem. Switching treatment (e.g. taking aspirin before NSAID dosing) may not be an alternative since interaction may persist, especially when taking enteric-coated aspirin. Changing NSAID treatment to diclofenac/celecoxib/etoricoxib may also not be an option in patients with high or previous CV event history. Under these circumstances, careful prescription should be considered at the individual patient level.When dyspepsia develops in an NSAID user, PPI co-therapy plus reduction of the NSAID dose or a change in the type of NSAID are valid alternatives, but clinical experience shows that, for some patients, stopping NSAID therapy may be the only option. After a bleeding episode, most patients can be managed with alternative therapy to NSAIDs, but if needed, a coxib plus a PPI and H. pylori eradication is a safe alternative.