[Duodenogastric reflux: diagnostic approach and incidence in dyspeptic disorders]

Duodeno-gastric reflux might be responsible for a number of acute and/or chronic diseases of the oesophagus and stomach. However, no consensus has emerged from published clinical or experimental studies concerning the relationship between duodeno-gastric reflux and digestive tract disease. This inconsistency could be partly linked to the difficulties in detection and quantification of duodeno-gastric reflux episodes and, consequently, in differentiation between physiological and pathological reflux. A critical review of the different diagnostic methods is therefore submitted here. An application of duodeno-gastric reflux evaluation to the inter-digestive period in non-ulcerous dyspepsia was carried out. The preliminary results of this prospective study do not favor an immediate responsibility of a quantitatively abnormal fasting reflux in non-ulcerous dyspepsia. However, other applications of duodeno-gastric reflux analysis taking into account not only the quantitative aspect but also the composition of the reflux material, (selective bile acids, phospholipids, etc.) are necessary.