Aims and Objectives: One of the common condition presenting in the surgical outpatient department is uninvestigated dyspepsia. The prevalence and predictability of the upper gastrointestinal findings in a case of uninvestigated dyspeptic patient is unknown by history. A study was undertaken using upper GI endoscopy  as a diagnostic tool to find various causes of dyspepsia / Gastro eosophageal reflux disease  prevailing in our rural locality aiming to study the outcome of Upper GI endoscopy in dyspeptic patients and the co-relation of alarm symptoms with GI endoscopy finding.

Materials and Methods: Prospective observational study was conducted on 150 patients aged between 18 – 80 years presenting with untreated, uninvestigated and uncomplicated dyspepsia admitted with upper gastrointestinal symptoms. After obtaining ethical committee approval, and getting informed and signed consent from the patients upper gastro-intestinal endoscopy was performed and documented.

Results: Most common presenting complaint was epigastric pain and discomfort; and most common endoscopic finding was gastritis followed by GERD. 71.3% of patients had clinically significant endoscopic findings with un-investigated dyspepsia.

Conclusion: In the study conducted it was found that 71.3% of them with un-investigated dyspepsia had clinically significant upper GI endoscopic findings. Most of them had three or more dyspeptic symptoms. Low incidence of malignancy and larger number of inflammatory lesions were noted in the study group. Based upon this study it is suggested that un- investigated dyspeptic patients who present to the outpatient department can be safely treated conservatively initially with acid suppressive therapy, diet and life-style modification. Review endoscopy may be undertaken in patients with recurrent symptoms or in whom drug therapy fails.

Keywords: Upper GI endoscopy; dyspepsia; GERD.

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Dr Kamal Kumar. K

Junior Resident, Rajah Muthiah Medical College & Hospital, Annamalai University,

Tamil Nadu, India