Use of the PEPTESTTM tool for the diagnosis of GERD in the Emergency Department

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders in the general population, with a prevalence of 8.8%–25.9% in Europe [1]. Many patients affected by GERD refer to the Emergency Department (ED) reporting an angina-like retrosternal chest pain [2-5]. For an optimal initial management of chest pain [6] in ED, the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine recommend to perform a 12 lead ECG, serial blood troponin levels, chest X-ray and eventually a cardiac stress test to exclude acute coronary syndrome (ACS) [7]. However, only a minority [8] of these patients (15%) does have an ACS [9], while 85% has a non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) [9,10], in which GERD ranks first [9]. A recently developed tool, the PEPTESTTM (RD BIOHIT Health- Care, Milan, Italy), turns out to be useful, safe and cheap for the diagnosis