[Hiccups in adults]

Hiccoughs are an involuntary spasmodic and coordinated contractions of the inspiratory muscles associated with a delayed and sudden closure of the glottis which is responsible for the characteristic noise. The pathophysiology of hiccoughs have not been elucidated. There have only been a few observations describing the sequence of inspiratory muscle activation and these suggest that the control of hiccoughs is within the central nervous system. The clinical circumstances associated with acute benign hiccoughs are both numerous and disparate. In these cases, when they stop spontaneously or as a result of simple physical manoeuvres hiccoughs do not require any particular medical attention. Chronic hiccoughs, defined as hiccoughs persisting for more than 24 hours or recurring as repetitive attacks are a rare phenomenon. The causes cover the whole of organic pathology. Systematic protocols of complementary examinations most often enable an underlying organic cause to be found. Amongst these, particular attention should be paid to oesophageal causes by the reason of their being the most frequent. An important place should be reserved for the aetiological treatment as is frequently enables a remission of chronic hiccough.