Published 6 October 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1972
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1972

Letters

Functional dyspepsia

At least recommend hypnotherapy

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

Zagari et al recommend that functional dyspepsia be treated initially by eradication therapy for Helicobacter pylori,¹ even though only 10% of patients with functional dyspepsia benefit from eradication compared with placebo.² Just because it’s a one off treatment doesn’t make it a justifiable long term approach.

What about using hypnotherapy for functional dyspepsia? A well conducted randomised controlled trial clearly showed the benefits of hypnotherapy in this functional disorder, and the authors say that hypnotherapy is highly effective in the long term management of functional dyspepsia.³ Furthermore, the dramatic reduction in medication use and consultation rate provide major economic advantages.

Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1972

¹ Royal London Homeopathic Hospital, UCLH NHS Foundation Trust, London WC1N 3HR

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Competing interests: None declared.

1. Zagari RM, Fuccio L, Bazzoli F. Investigating dypepsia. BMJ 2008;337:a1400. (15 September.)[Free Full Text]
2. Tack J, Talley NJ, Camilleri M, Holtmann G, Hu P, Malagelada JR, et al. Functional gastroduodenal disorders. Gastroenterology 2006;130:1466-79.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
3. Calvert EL, Houghton LA, Cooper P, Morris J, Whorwell PJ. Long-term improvement in functional dyspepsia using hypnotherapy. Gastroenterology 2002;123;6;1778-85.

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Relevant Article

Investigating dyspepsia

Rocco Maurizio Zagari, Lorenzo Fuccio, and Franco Bazzoli
BMJ 2008 337: a1400. [Extract] [Full Text]

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