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Updated: Jul 22, 2025

Simultaneous Laryngopharyngeal and Conventional Esophageal pH Monitoring
Published on: December 14, 2020
How safe are heartburn medications and who should use them?
Vincenzo Savarino1, Elisa Marabotto1, Patrizia Zentilin1
1Department of Internal Medicine (DIMI), University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
Introduction:
Heartburn is a frequent symptom occurring in daily clinical practice and is mainly associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). However, it can be stimulated by various factors and diseases other than GERD can present with heartburn. Therefore, physicians must be very careful in distinguishing GERD from non-GERD conditions in their patients, particularly when heartburn is refractory to anti-reflux medications.
Areas Covered:
The aim of this narrative review was to analyze the medical literature regarding the prevalence of heartburn and the various clinical disorders which can be present with this symptom. The type of medications usually adopted for treating heartburn and their grade of safety have been reviewed using an extensive computerized (Medline/PubMed) search with particular focus on the last 20 years.
Expert Opinion:
Many drugs can be used for relieving heartburn in patients with GERD, although PPIs are the pharmacological agents with the greatest efficacy. However, it must be highlighted that many non-GERD conditions may present clinically with this symptom whose intensity does not differ between GERD and functional esophageal disorders, which represent about 50% of all patients with suspected GERD. It is very important to identify these functional conditions because their treatment differs completely from that of GERD.
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