Potassium-competitive acid blockers and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), the most commonly used antisecretory medi-cations in the management of reflux illness, virtually eliminate elective surgery for ulcer disease, and relegate anti-reflux surgery to patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) who are inadequately managed by medical therapy. However, PPI medications still leave some therapeutic demands of GERD unmet. Furthermore, up to 40%-55% of daily PPI users have chronic symptoms, due to PPI refractoriness. Potassium-competitive acid blockers (P-CABs) transcend many of the problems and limits of PPIs, delivering quick, powerful, and extended acid suppression and allowing for treatment of numerous unmet needs. Recently, it has become clear that compromised mucosal integrity plays a role in the etiology of GERD. As a result, esophageal mucosal protection has emerged as a novel and potential treatment approach. An increasing body of research demonstrates that when P-CABs are used as primary drugs or add-on drugs (to regular treatment), they provide a considerable extra benefit, particularly in alleviating symptoms that do not respond to PPI therapy.

Pharmacological Management of Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease: An Update of the State-of-the-Art.

Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a highly prevalent, chronic disorder, whose knowledge remains limited and the management of these patients changes continuously. This review provides a summary of the most recent advancements in the pathogenesis of this disease and the new drugs introduced into the market to overcome some of the unmet needs of traditional therapies. Nowadays, the most fruitful diagnostic examinations are 24-hour impedance-pH monitoring, which allows us to separate true NERD from esophageal functional disorders and high-resolution manometry, which helps to exclude the existence of motility disorders sharing the same symptoms of GERD. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) remain the first-choice therapy in the treatment of GERD, but a consistent proportion of these patients continue to experience symptoms despite their intake. These cases pertain mainly to the subpopulation with non-erosive reflux disease (NERD) and represent very challenging clinical situations, because it is mandatory to understand the reasons for PPI failure. The management of these difficult patients requires necessarily to test them and avoid the use of empiric treatments that are often unsuccessful, costly and potentially dangerous. Recently, several new drugs have been used to increase the defensive properties of this mucosa with promising results in randomized clinical trials.