Nonspecific duodenitis: A distinct clinical entity?

Pathological and Histomorphometric Study of the Effects of Alcohol on the Human Duodenum

“…This is in agreement with the findings of some investi gators (8,17) but not with those of others (6,10,14).…”

The Pathophysiology of Duodenitis

“…However, the devel opment of duodenal ulcers in some patients with duode nitis has been reported [8], Symptomatically, it may be difficult to separate pa tients with duodenitis from those with definite ulcer ation, both groups suffering from very similar pain and discomfort related to food and relieved by alkali inges tion. Epigastric distension and flatulence appeared to be more common in duodenitis than in patients with ulcers, but pain occurred in all our patients, unlike groups reported by some previous authors [7,9]. Intraduodenal infusion of acid has been shown to provoke pain in patients with duodenitis as well as in those with duodenal ulceration [10].…”

Focus on Duodenitis

“…On the whole, it is understandable that, while some investigators maintain that duodenitis is part of the spectrum of duode nal ulcer disease [8,11,27,28], others be lieve that chronic nonspecific duodenitis has no relationship with peptic ulceration [1,6,13,29], A possible clue to the problem could be offered by the secretory profile of patients with duodenitis in comparison with duodenal ulcer subjects. However, contrasting findings are reported even in this respect.…”

“…On the other hand, according to different authors [5][6][7] histological features of duode nitis are constantly associated with dyspep tic symptoms. In a double-blind experiment it has actually been shown that when acid is perfused in the duodenum of subjects with endoscopic and histological signs of duode nitis, epigastric pain is easily reproduced.…”