Tangible pathologies in functional dyspepsia

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common, costly and complex disease, currently defined by symptoms, directed by the Rome consensus on functional bowel disorders, which has evolved over the past two decades. Symptoms include abdominal pain, are often meal related and there are two major subtypes, postprandial distress syndrome and epigastric pain syndrome, not attributed to pathology. Increasingly it is recognised that tangible pathologies occur in FD, for example Helicobacter pylori and other pathophysiological changes, most notably duodenal pathology, namely duodenal eosinophilia, permeability alterations, structural neuronal changes and microbial duodenal dysbiosis. This has led to the idea that FD is a true disease entity and triggers of this condition based on epidemiology studies point towards allergy, immune disorders and infection. Anxiety and depression may precede or follow FD, (brain-gut/gut-brain disorders). Currently most therapies for FD are inadequate but underlying pathology may lead to targeted treatment success as an attainable goal.