[A diseased esophagus is frequently the cause of chronic hiccup. A prospective study of 184 cases].
BACKGROUND
Chronic hiccup, defined as repetitive hiccup spells during more than 48 h, is an uncommon and neglected pathological condition, in which preliminary findings suggested an upper digestive origin.


METHODS
We prospectively included 184 rebel chronic hiccups in this clinical and endoscopic study. Our rule of thumb was to consider upper digestive findings as first-rank in imputability and thus to treat them in priority. If treatment failed or no abnormality was found in the upper digestive tract, a neurological survey was done and baclofen tried.


RESULTS
We thus discovered upper digestive abnormalities in 80% of the patients and the treatment rule yielded 66% of success, including 48 complete remissions and 116 partial remissions. There were 20 failures, generally due to untreatable neurological diseases such as brain tumors.


CONCLUSIONS
A diseased esophagus is frequently the cause of chronic hiccup.
Cabane
Jean
J
Service de médecine interne horloge 2, hôpital Saint-Antoine, AP-HP, faculté de médecine Pierre-et-Marie-Curie Paris-6, 75571 Paris cedex 12, France. jean.cabane@sat.aphp.fr
Bizec
Jean-Louis
JL
Derenne
Jean-Philippe
JP
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004935:Esophageal Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006606:Hiccup / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult