An Altered Duodenal Function Associated with the Pathophysiology of Functional Dyspepsia

Abstract

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by heterogeneous symptoms thought to originate from the gastroduodenal region, including postprandial fullness, early satiety, epigastric pain, and epigastric burning, although it does not have any associated organic disease that explains its symptoms. The pathogenesis of FD remains unclear, but it has been shown that the gastric function is basically associated with the pathogenesis of FD, which is also linked to the brain function along with psychological factors, a relationship known as brain-gut correlation. Recently, attention has been focused on the involvement of the duodenal function in the pathogenesis of FD. We previously showed that the mucosal barrier function was impaired in FD patients by measuring the duodenal mucosal barrier function directly during esophagogastroduodenoscopy. We therefore believe that the altered duodenal mucosal barrier function plays a role in the pathogenesis of FD.