Proton pump inhibitor-responsive chronic cough without acid reflux: a case report.
BACKGROUND
Because 24-h esophageal pH monitoring is quite invasive, the diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)-associated cough has usually been made based merely on the clinical efficacy of treatment with proton pump inhibitor (PPI).


METHODS
We recently encountered two patients with PPI-responsive chronic non-productive cough for whom switching from bronchodilators and glucocorticosteroids to PPI resulted in improvement of cough. The cough returned nearly to pre-administration level a few weeks after discontinuation of PPI. Though GERD-associated cough was suspected, 24-h esophageal pH monitoring revealed that the cough rarely involved gastric acid reflux. Following re-initiation of PPI, the cough disappeared again.


CONCLUSIONS
PPI may improve cough unrelated to gastric acid reflux.
Nobata
Kouichi
K
The Department of Internal Medicine, Imizu City Hospital, Imizu, JapanAbstract. k-nobata@yg7.so-net.ne.jp.
Asanoi
Hidetsugu
H
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