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2012;10:12391245Efficacy of Buspirone, a Fundus-Relaxing Drug, in
Patients WithFunctional Dyspepsia
JAN TACK, PIETER JANSSEN, TATSUHIRO MASAOKA, RICARD FARR, and
LUKAS VAN OUDENHOVETranslational Research Center for
Gastrointestinal Disorders (TARGID), University of Leuven, Leuven,
Belgium
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BACKGROUND & AIMS: Impaired accommodation
andhypersensitivity to gastric distention are believed to be
involvedin the development of functional dyspepsia (FD). Buspirone,
a5-hydroxytryptamine 1A receptor agonist, relaxes the
proximalstomach in healthy individuals. We studied the effects of
bu-spirone on symptoms and mechanisms of FD. METHODS:We performed a
randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled,crossover study of 17
patients (13 women; mean age, 38.5 2.4years). The study included 2
treatment periods of 4 weeks each,separated by a 2-week washout
period. In the first period, 7participants were given buspirone (10
mg, 3 times daily for 4weeks) and 10 were given placebo 15 minutes
before meals;patients switched groups for the second period. We
assessedmeal-related symptoms and severity, along with gastric
sensi-tivity, accommodation, and emptying (by using barostat
andbreath tests) before and after 4 weeks of treatment.
RESULTS:Buspirone significantly reduced the overall severity of
symp-toms of dyspepsia (7.5 1.3 vs 11.5 1.2 for placebo; P .005)and
individual symptoms of postprandial fullness, early satia-tion, and
upper abdominal bloating, whereas placebo had nosignificant effect
(all P .05). Buspirone did not alter the rateof gastric emptying of
solids or sensitivity to gastric distention,but it significantly
increased gastric accommodation, comparedwith placebo (229 28 vs
141 32 mL, respectively; P .05),and delayed gastric emptying of
liquids (half-life 64 5 vs119 24 minutes, respectively). Adverse
events were similarwhen patients were given buspirone or placebo.
CONCLU-SIONS: In patients with FD, 4 weeks of administration of
uspirone significantly improved symptoms and gastric
ac-ommodation, compared with placebo, whereas gastricmptying of
liquids was delayed.
eywords: Gastric Barostat; Therapy; Clinical Trial;
Mechano-eceptor.
Functional dyspepsia (FD), defined as the presence of symp-toms
thought to originate in the gastroduodenal region inthe absence of
organic, systemic, or metabolic disease that islikely to explain
the symptoms, is one of the most commongastrointestinal disorders.1
According to the Rome III consen-us, typical FD symptoms are early
satiation, postprandial full-ess, epigastric pain, and epigastric
burning. Other symptomsuch as upper abdominal bloating, belching,
and nausea oftenoexist, and a subset of patients may experience
weight loss.1,2
At present, there is no treatment with established efficacy
forFD. Proton pump inhibitors and prokinetic drugs are
mostfrequently used, although the evidence to support their
efficacyis limited.3 The rationales for the use of these classes of
drugs
are the frequent overlap with gastroesophageal reflux diseaseand
the hypothesis that delayed gastric emptying is an impor-tant
underlying pathophysiological mechanism, respectively.4
However, it has become clear that delayed gastric emptying
isonly present in a minority of FD patients.5
Several studies have reported impaired gastric accommoda-tion in
FD, which may contribute to symptom generation.6 8
Gastric accommodation is a relaxation of the proximal
stomachthat occurs during meal ingestion and provides the meal with
areservoir, enabling a gastric volume increase without a rise
inpressure.7,8 Impaired accommodation is present in approxi-
ately 40% of FD patients and is associated with more preva-ent
symptoms of early satiation and weight loss.6 On the basis
of observations in healthy controls and in FD patients,
resto-ration of accommodation is considered a valid
therapeutictarget.6 8 Besides delayed gastric emptying and impaired
ac-commodation, hypersensitivity to gastric distention is
anotherprevalent pathophysiological abnormality in FD.9
Mechanisticstudies have established that tension-sensitive
mechanorecep-tors are involved in symptom generation in FD patients
withhypersensitivity to gastric distention and that drugs that
relaxthe proximal stomach have a potential to improve symptoms
inthese patients.10
Targeting impaired accommodation or visceral hypersensi-tivity
in FD through enhanced relaxation of the proximal stom-ach is
hampered by a lack of suitable pharmacologic tools forhuman use.
Because nitric oxide is the major neurotransmittermediating gastric
relaxation, nitric oxide donors have been usedto enhance gastric
relaxation and to reduce dyspeptic symp-toms, but their effect was
short-lasting and accompanied byvascular side effects.11,12 Animal
studies identified a 5-hydroxy-ryptamine (5-HT)1p receptor on
nitrergic enteric neurons as auitable target, and studies in humans
confirmed the ability ofhe 5-HT1 receptor agonist sumatriptan to
relax the proximal
stomach through a nitrergic pathway.6,1316 However, because
ofits low bioavailability when taken orally and because of
itspharmacologic profile, sumatriptan is less suitable for FD
ther-apy.17 Activation of presynaptic 5-HT1A receptors on
cholinergic
erve endings is another pathway that relaxes the proximaltomach
in animal models.18 In healthy volunteers, buspirone,
5-HT1A receptor agonist used in the treatment of
anxiety,ose-dependently relaxed the proximal stomach and
delayedastric emptying of solids and liquids.19
Abbreviations used in this paper: DSS, dyspepsia symptom
severity;FD, functional dyspepsia; 5-HT, 5-hydroxytryptamine;
SCL-90R, Symp-tom Checklist-90-Revised.
2012 by the AGA
Institute1542-3565/$36.00http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2012.06.036
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2012.06.036
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1240 TACK ET AL CLINICAL GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY Vol.
10, No. 11Our aim was to study the influence of buspirone on
symp-toms, gastric emptying rate, gastric accommodation, and
sen-sitivity to gastric distention in FD patients.
MethodsPatient SelectionPatients aged 20 70 years with FD
according to Rome
II criteria were eligible for the study.20 Organic or
metabolicisease was excluded by routine biochemistry, upper
abdominalltrasound, and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. During
en-oscopy, biopsies were taken to assess the presence of
Helico-acter pylori. Exclusion criteria were the presence of
esophagitis,astric atrophy, or erosive gastroduodenal lesions on
endos-opy, heartburn as a predominant symptom, a history of
pepticlcer, major abdominal surgery, and the use of
nonsteroidalnti-inflammatory drugs, steroids, prokinetics, or drugs
affect-ng gastric acid secretion.
All patients were seen by a psychiatrist for a
structuredsychiatric interview.21 Patients with current anxiety or
depres-ion and patients treated with antipsychotics or
antidepressantsuring the last 6 weeks were not eligible for the
study. Thesychiatrist also ruled out anorexia nervosa in patients
witheight loss. Pregnant female patients or patients of
childbear-
ng potential without effective contraception were also ex-luded.
All drugs potentially affecting gastrointestinal motilityr
sensitivity were discontinued at least 1 week before the startf the
study and were forbidden for the entire course of thetudy. Informed
consent was obtained from each participant.he protocol was approved
by the Ethics Committee of theniversity Hospital.
Study DesignAfter a 2-week run-in period, the study consisted of
two
4-week treatment periods, separated by a 2-week washout (Fig-ure
1). Treatment consisted of buspirone 10 mg or matchingplacebo 3
times daily 15 minutes before meals. Patients filledout a dyspepsia
symptom severity (DSS) score at the end of therun-in period, at the
end of the washout period, and at the endof each treatment period.
In this questionnaire, whose repro-ducibility and sensitivity have
previously been reported, pa-tients scored the intensity of 8
dyspeptic symptoms (epigastricpain, postprandial fullness, upper
abdominal bloating, earlysatiation, nausea, vomiting, epigastric
burning, belching) dur-ing the last week on a Likert scale (range,
0 3 [absent, mild,moderate, severe]).22,23 DSS is defined as the
sum of all 8 items.At the beginning of the study, an extensive
clinical psychiatricassessment was performed, and patients filled
out the SymptomChecklist-90-Revised (SCL-90R) questionnaire.
At the end of the run-in period and at the end of eachtreatment
period, all patients underwent a gastric barostatstudy and a
gastric emptying study with registration of meal-related symptoms.
The details of these measurements are out-lined below.
Gastric Emptying Breath Test andMeal-Related SymptomsGastric
solid and liquid emptying rates were deter-
mined by the 14C-octanoic acid and 13C-glycin breath
test,espectively.24,25 In the treatment phases, study medication
wasingested 15 minutes before the meal. Breath samples were
takenbefore the meal and at 15-minute intervals during 240
minutespostprandially and were analyzed as previously
reported.24,25
At each breath sampling, the patient was asked to grade
theintensity (0 3) of 6 epigastric symptoms (epigastric pain,
bloat-ing, postprandial fullness, nausea, belching, and
epigastricburning).26
Gastric Barostat StudiesGastric barostat studies to assess
sensitivity to gastric
distention and meal-induced accommodation were performedas
previously reported.6,8
Data AnalysisGastric half-emptying time was calculated from
the
13CO2 and 14CO2 excretion curves as previously reported
andalidated.24,25 For each symptom, a meal-related severity
score
was obtained by adding scores at all time points. A
cumulativemeal-related symptom score was obtained by adding
individualsymptom severity scores.26
Gastric barostat studies were analyzed as previously
re-ported.6,9 Hypersensitivity to gastric distention was defined as
a
iscomfort threshold 6.6 mm Hg above intragastric
pressure.mpaired accommodation to a meal was defined as a
meal-nduced relaxation 64 mL.6,9
Statistical AnalysisData are presented as mean standard error of
the
mean. The primary outcome variable was the improvement inDSS
scores. DSS scores after 4 weeks of treatment were com-pared with
the scores at the end of the preceding period offtherapy (run-in
period or washout period, depending on treat-ment order
allocation). To evaluate carryover effects, DSS
Figure 1. (A) Number of patients included and selected for
random-ization. (B) Outline of the study protocol. AE, adverse
event.scores at the end of run-in and the end of washout were
also
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November 2012 BUSPIRONE IN FUNCTIONAL DYSPEPSIA 1241compared.
The study was powered to detect a 30% difference insymptom scores
with 85% sensitivity at P .05.
Secondary outcome variables were the effects of treatmenton
meal-related symptom severity score, on solid and liquidgastric
emptying rates, on gastric compliance, thresholds dur-ing gastric
balloon distention, and meal-induced gastric accom-modation.
Because gastric barostat and meal-related symptomassessment with
gastric emptying were only performed at base-line and at the end of
each treatment period, these analysescompared baseline with
on-therapy measures.
The correlation between changes in DSS scores and thebaseline
SCL-90R scores, changes in gastric emptying rate, andchanges in
barostat parameters were assessed by Pearson corre-lation analysis.
A similar correlation analysis was done forchanges in meal-related
symptom scores.
Symptom scores and changes in measured variables of gas-tric
sensorimotor function were compared by paired t test.Differences
were considered significant, with P .05.
ResultsConduct of the StudyTwenty patients were recruited for
the study. Three
were excluded during the run-in phase, one because of
preg-nancy, one because the general practitioner started an
antide-pressant, and one who was hospitalized with vomiting.
Seventeen FD patients (13 women; mean age, 38.5 2.4years) were
randomized to the study drug or placebo. Table 1summarizes their
symptom patterns at the end of the run-inperiod. Ten patients (58%)
reported weight loss. All patientswere H pylori negative; 4
patients had a history of H pylorinfection, with eradication 6
months before the study. Ataseline, anxiety and depression levels,
as assessed by the SCL-0R questionnaire, were 15.2 1.2 and 33.3
3.0, respectively,hich is below the Dutch norms for psychiatric
outpatients (25nd 43, respectively). Seven patients were randomized
to receiveuspirone first, and 10 patients received placebo first.
Bothroups did not differ in mean age (35 5 vs 41 2.0 years; .18)
and in sex distribution (2/7 vs 2/10 males; NS).Two patients (one
female) stopped the study during the first
eek of treatment (one on buspirone, one on placebo) becausef
nausea and abdominal discomfort. In one patient with poorolerance
of the barostat, no repeat barostats were performed.ll other
patients finished the protocol as planned.
Table 1. Symptom Profile in Patient Population at End ofRun-in
Period (N 17)
Symptom Absent Mild Moderate Severe
Postprandial fullness 1 2 4 10Upper abdominal bloating 3 1 5
8Early satiation 6 2 3 6Nausea 4 2 6 5Belching 4 4 5 4Epigastric
pain 8 3 2 4Vomiting 12 0 2 3Epigastric burning 8 4 5 0NOTE. Rows
indicate number of patients for each symptom severity
level.Dyspepsia Symptom SeverityDSS before placebo treatment was
10.8 1.0, and no
ignificant difference occurred after placebo (9.5 1.1; NS).efore
buspirone treatment, DSS was 11.5 1.2, and this wasignificantly
decreased after 4 weeks of buspirone therapy to.5 1.3 (P .005). The
difference in DSS at the end oflacebo and buspirone treatment was
borderline significant
P .05) (Figure 2A).Compared with the end of the pretreatment
phase, the
individual symptoms of postprandial fullness (2.2 0.2 vs1.3 0.3;
P .005), upper abdominal bloating (2.2 0.2 vs1.6 0.3; P .005), and
early satiation (1.6 0.3 vs 0.5 0.3;
.005) were significantly improved by buspirone but not bylacebo
treatment (Figure 2B). The severity of postprandialullness was
significantly lower after 4 weeks of buspironeompared with placebo
(1.3 0.3 vs 1.9 0.2; P .05).
Meal-Related Symptom Scores and GastricEmptying RatesTable 2 and
Figure 3 summarize the meal-related symp-
tom scores and gastric emptying rates. No significant changesin
solid emptying occurred, whereas liquid gastric emptying
wassignificantly slower after buspirone compared with baseline
Figure 2. (A) Influence of buspirone and placebo on DSS. (B)
Influenceof buspirone and placebo on severity scores of individual
dyspepticsymptoms. *P .05 compared with baseline.(Table 2). Delayed
gastric emptying was found in 2 patients at
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1242 TACK ET AL CLINICAL GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY Vol.
10, No. 11baseline, 3 during placebo treatment, and 5 during
buspironetreatment (NS). Rapid gastric emptying, defined as
half-empty-ing time below the 95% confidence interval in healthy
volun-teers (44 minutes for solids, 35 minutes for liquids),
wasound in only one patient at baseline (44 minutes for solids,
37
inutes for liquids).Total meal-related symptom severity scores
were significantly
ower after buspirone compared with baseline (67 17 vs 119 24; P
.005) or with placebo (67 17 vs 97 15; P .01),whereas baseline and
placebo did not differ significantly (Figure3A).
Table 2. Influence of Placebo and Buspirone on Different Par
Test Variable
astric emptying rate Solid emptying half-emptying time
(min)Liquid emptying half-emptying time (min)
Gastric barostat MDP (mm Hg)Fasting discomfort threshold (mm Hg
abFasting discomfort volume (mL)Gastric accommodation
(mL)Postprandial discomfort threshold (mm HPostprandial discomfort
volume (mL)
MDP, minimal distending pressure.aP .05 compared with
baseline.bP .05 compared with placebo.
Figure 3. (A) Influence of buspirone and placebo on gastric
emptyingand total meal-related symptom severity. (B) Influence of
buspirone andplacebo on individual meal-related symptom severity.
*P .05 vs
un-in; **P .005 vs baseline; P .05 vs placebo.Compared with
baseline, buspirone significantly improvedmeal-related symptom
severities for postprandial fullness (27 6 vs 14 5; P .005), upper
abdominal bloating (26 6 vs14 4; P .05), nausea (20 5 vs 12 4; P
.01), andbelching (24 4 vs 12 3; P .005), whereas placebo
onlyimproved belching (24 4 vs 16 3; P .05). Compared withplacebo,
buspirone was associated with significantly lower meal-related
symptom severity of postprandial fullness (23 5 vs14 5; P .05) and
upper abdominal bloating (22 5 vs 14 4; P .05) (Figure 3B).
Gastric Barostat StudiesTable 2 summarizes the results of the
gastric barostat
studies. No significant differences were found between
baseline,placebo, and buspirone for minimal distending pressure,
sensi-tivity to gastric distention in the fasting and postprandial
state(Figure 4A), and gastric compliance. Hypersensitivity to
fastinggastric distention was found in 13 patients at baseline, in
12during placebo, and in 10 during buspirone (NS).
Preprandial intraballoon volumes did not differ between the3
conditions. Postprandial intraballoon volumes tended to behigher
after buspirone compared with placebo (367 35 vs
76 28; P .05). Gastric accommodation was significantlyigher
after buspirone compared with placebo (229 28 vs41 32; P .05)
(Figure 4B). Impaired accommodation toeal was found in 5 patients
at baseline, in 6 during placebo
reatment (NS), and in 1 during buspirone treatment (P .09).
Correlates of Symptom EvolutionThe improvements in DSS and in
meal-related symp-
toms were not significantly correlated to demographics,
base-line severity scores, baseline anxiety and depression scores,
andbaseline gastric emptying or barostat characteristics.
Significantcorrelations were found between the improvement in DSS
andchanges in solid and liquid gastric half-emptying times (R2 0.30
and R2 0.27, respectively; both P .04). Borderlinesignificant
correlations were found between changes in gastricaccommodation and
improvement in postprandial fullness andin upper abdominal bloating
(R2, 0.26 and 0.24, respectively;
.05 and .06, respectively).
Carryover EffectIn crossover studies, symptom severity may fail
to re-
turn to baseline after the first treatment period. In the
present
ters of Gastric Sensorimotor Function Testing
Baseline Placebo Buspirone
95 16 88 6 110 1764 5 80 6 119 24a
6.6 0.6 7.1 0.6 5.9 0.7DP) 5.5 0.3 5.3 0.5 5.9 0.4
406 21 367 47 380 25132 40 141 32 229 28a,b
ove MDP) 8.6 2.1 7.7 1.3 6.4 0.9523 84 457 54 593 49bame
ove M
g abstudy, DSS scores at the end of 2-week washout after the
initial
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November 2012 BUSPIRONE IN FUNCTIONAL DYSPEPSIA 1243treatment
period did not differ significantly from baseline11.4 1.2 vs 10.9
0.9; NS).
To further address the issue of a carryover effect, a
separatenalysis of the first treatment period as a parallel group
studyas performed, although numbers for this analysis are very
low.ccording to this analysis, buspirone significantly decreasedSS
(5.7 1.8 vs 9.7 0.9; P .01) compared with baseline,
nd the individual symptoms of postprandial fullness (1.0 .4 vs
2.2 0.3; P .05) and belching (0.8 0.3 vs 1.8 0.3;
P 0.05). In contrast, placebo had no significant effect
onoverall (9.8 1.7 vs 11.5 1.4; NS) and individual symptomscores
compared with baseline. No significant differences insymptom
intensities were found at the end of the first treat-ment phase
between placebo and buspirone in this parallelgroup analysis.
DiscussionFD is a highly prevalent condition for which no
treat-
ment with well-established efficacy is presently available.
Previ-ous approaches to improve FD symptoms through
acid-sup-pressive or prokinetic drugs have failed to generate
substantialsymptomatic benefit for the majority of patients.2 4 The
use of
rokinetics was based on the assumption that delayed
gastricmptying was a major pathophysiological mechanism, buttudies
have identified impaired gastric accommodation andypersensitivity
to gastric distention as potentially more rele-ant factors
underlying FD symptom generation.2,59 In acute
Figure 4. (A) Influence of buspirone and placebo on gastric
sensitivityto fasting and postprandial balloon distention. (B)
Influence of buspironeand placebo on intraballoon volumes before
and after a meal.tudies, relaxation of the proximal stomach has
been identifieds a target to improve symptoms in FD patients with
impairedccommodation and hypersensitivity to gastric distention,
and-HT1A agonists have been identified as a class of agents
that
nduce gastric relaxation.6 10,19,27
In the present proof-of-concept study evaluating symptomsand
mechanisms, we demonstrated that the 5-HT1A agonist
uspirone was superior to placebo in alleviating FD symptoms,ore
specifically early satiation, postprandial fullness, and up-
er abdominal bloating. Improvement was apparent both fromn FD
symptom severity questionnaire28 and from the assess-
ment of postprandial symptoms after a standardized meal.26
Buspirone seemed most effective for the meal-related FD
symp-toms of early satiation, upper abdominal bloating, and
post-prandial fullness, whereas symptoms of epigastric pain
andburning were not affected, suggesting that this treatment
ap-proach may be most beneficial for the FD subgroup
withpostprandial distress syndrome according to Rome III
criteria.1
The observations are in agreement with a recent large
placebo-controlled study from Japan, which showed significant
benefitfrom a 4-week treatment with the 5-HT1A agonist
tandospironeompared with placebo.29 Taken together, these studies
support
a therapeutic benefit of 5-HT1A receptor agonists in FD. On
theother hand, a smaller mechanistic study with R137696,
another5-HT1A agonist, failed to demonstrate symptomatic benefit,
butthere was a suggestion of lack of drug effect on
repeatedadministration.30
The 5-HT1A agonists may improve FD symptom severityhrough a
number of mechanisms. Both buspirone and tan-ospirone are
clinically used as anxiolytic drugs. The comor-idity between
functional gastrointestinal disorder and psychi-tric disorders,
especially anxiety disorders, is high,31 and
experimentally induced anxiety in healthy volunteers is
associ-ated with decreased gastric compliance and accommodationand
increased epigastric symptom scores during a standardnutrient
challenge.32 In hypersensitive FD patients, state anxietys
significantly correlated with lower discomfort and painhresholds
and decreased compliance during gastric balloonistention.33 These
observations suggest a potential for anx-
iolytics to alter both FD symptoms and gastric
sensorimotorfunction. In the present article, baseline anxiety
scores were notcorrelated to symptom improvement, but because these
scoreswere not repeated at the end of treatment, we are unable
tocorrelate changes in anxiety levels with improvement in
FDsymptoms. This, together with the relatively low number
ofpatients studied, is the main limitation of the present
proof-of-concept study. On the other hand, in the much larger
tan-dospirone controlled trial, no correlation was found
betweenanxiety scores and symptom improvement, arguing against
ananxiolytic effect as a main mechanism underlying
symptomimprovement with 5-HT1A agonists in FD.29
Symptom improvement in the present study was associatedwith a
delay in liquid gastric emptying rate and an increase
inmeal-induced gastric accommodation. These data suggest thatthe
inhibitory effect of buspirone on proximal stomach tone isan
important contributor to its therapeutic efficacy. The smallsample
size of the current study does not allow comparisons ofsymptomatic
benefit in specific subgroups such as patients withimpaired
accommodation or visceral hypersensitivity. A signif-icant
correlation was found between slowing of gastric empty-ing and
symptom improvement by buspirone. However, with
only one patient with rapid gastric emptying at baseline,
delay-
-
trta
1sptata
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1244 TACK ET AL CLINICAL GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY Vol.
10, No. 11ing gastric emptying rate per se is unlikely to mediate
the effectsof buspirone. The increase in gastric accommodation was
bor-derline significantly correlated to the improvement of
symp-toms by buspirone treatment. Taking into account the
preva-lence of impaired accommodation at baseline and
duringbuspirone of 6 and 1 patients, respectively, it is
conceivable thatenhancement of gastric accommodation underlies some
of theobserved symptomatic benefit. Confirmation in a larger
studywould strengthen this hypothesis, but measuring accommoda-tion
with a barostat or with other techniques is technicallydifficult,
which tends to preclude large-scale studies.7,8
The dose of buspirone, 10 mg 3 times daily, was based onprevious
pharmacodynamic studies in healthy volunteers thatshowed that acute
administration of this dose did cause a delayin solid gastric
emptying; the latter is potentially undesirablefor FD symptom
treatment.19 Buspirone was well tolerated inhe present study, with
an adverse event and treatment inter-uption incidence similar to
placebo. When used in large pa-ient samples for anxiolytic
purposes, buspirone use has beenssociated with dizziness,
lightheadedness, and nausea.34 Larg-
er-scale therapeutic studies with buspirone to further assess
itsefficacy and tolerability profile in FD seem warranted on
thebasis of our study.
In conclusion, in a placebo-controlled crossover trial, 4weeks
of treatment with the 5-HT1A receptor agonist buspirone
0 mg 3 times daily significantly improved overall symptomeverity
and the individual symptoms of early satiation, post-randial
fullness, and upper abdominal bloating. The therapeu-ic effect was
associated with a slowed liquid gastric emptyingnd enhanced gastric
accommodation. Buspirone 10 mg 3imes daily was well tolerated in
this proof-of-concept study,nd larger studies in FD seem
warranted.
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Reprint requestsAddress requests for reprints to: Jan Tack, MD,
PhD, Department of
Pathophysiology, Division of Gastroenterology, University
HospitalsGasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
e-mail: [email protected]; fax: 32-16-34-44-19.
Conflicts of interestThe authors disclose no conflicts.
FundingSupported by a Methusalem grant from Leuven University to
Prof J.Tack.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]
Efficacy of Buspirone, a Fundus-Relaxing Drug, in Patients With
Functional DyspepsiaMethodsPatient SelectionStudy DesignGastric
Emptying Breath Test and Meal-Related SymptomsGastric Barostat
StudiesData AnalysisStatistical Analysis
ResultsConduct of the StudyDyspepsia Symptom
SeverityMeal-Related Symptom Scores and Gastric Emptying
RatesGastric Barostat StudiesCorrelates of Symptom
EvolutionCarryover Effect
DiscussionReferences