OBJECTIVES
Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a chronic gastrointestinal disorder significantly impacting quality of life and causing substantial socioeconomic burden. Diagnosis relies on the absence of organic cause for symptoms on imaging studies. Due t...
OBJECTIVES
Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a chronic gastrointestinal disorder significantly impacting quality of life and causing substantial socioeconomic burden. Diagnosis relies on the absence of organic cause for symptoms on imaging studies. Due to the lack of internationally accepted FD endpoints, current assessment relies on patient-reported outcomes, validated questionnaires, and sometimes electrogastrography and gastric emptying tests. This study proposes pressure pain and skin conductance as novel indicators for assessing FD symptoms.
METHODS
This retrospective chart review analyzed 150 patients with dyspepsia and no evidence of organic disease. We measured pressure pain and skin conductance at five thoracoabdominal points, including three acupuncture points (Danjung/CV17, Sangwan/CV13, Jungwan/CV12) and two most painful non-acupuncture points, and performed correlation analysis between gastrointestinal symptoms, pressure pain, and skin conductance. Subgroup analyses were conducted based on sex, age, body mass index, morbidity duration, and total average Ryodoraku score.
RESULTS
Pressure pain at all five points correlated with painful sensations like chest and upper abdominal pain and soreness. Skin conductance, however, correlated with gastric motility-related symptoms such as bloating, acid reflux, and vomiting. At the acupuncture points (CV17, CV13, CV12), a positive correlation emerged between pressure pain and skin conductance, suggesting a common underlying factor mediating both.
CONCLUSIONS
Pressure pain and skin conductance in the thoracoabdominal region can be valuable tools for assessing gastrointestinal symptoms in non-organic dyspepsia. This study's findings justify a large, well-designed clinical trial to validate the utility of pressure pain and skin conductance as FD symptom assessment tools.
Key Words : Functional dyspepsia, FD, non-organic dyspepsia, pressure pain, skin conductance.