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Heartburn causes

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: José Eduardo Riceto Loyola Junior, M.D.[2]

Overview

Heartburn is commonly caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) or adverse reactions to various food and drugs, causing esophagitis. Life threatening causes of heartburn are far less common and include acute coronary syndromes and esophageal cancer.

Causes

Life Threatening Causes

These causes present with chest pain that may present similarly to heartburn and also other clinical features that occur with heartburn:

Common Causes

Less Common Causes

References

  1. De Giorgi F, Palmiero M, Esposito I, Mosca F, Cuomo R (October 2006). “Pathophysiology of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease”. Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital. 26 (5): 241–6. PMC 2639970. PMID 17345925.
  2. Fennerty MB, Johnson DA (April 2006). “Heartburn severity does not predict disease severity in patients with erosive esophagitis”. MedGenMed. 8 (2): 6. PMC 1785158. PMID 16926745.
  3. Karamanolis G, Polymeros D, Triantafyllou K, Adamopoulos A, Barbatzas C, Vafiadis I, Ladas SD (June 2013). “Hiatal hernia predisposes to nocturnal gastro-oesophageal reflux”. United European Gastroenterol J. 1 (3): 169–74. doi:10.1177/2050640613490295. PMC 4040758. PMID 24917956.
  4. “www.worldgastroenterology.org” (PDF).

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