Prevention and Treatment of NSAID Gastropathy

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) treatment will be necessary as part of our therapeutic armamentarium for many years to come. Therefore, safe prescription is mandatory in order to prevent adverse events. In the last two decades, new strategies and new drugs have been developed to reduce NSAID-associated upper gastrointestinal (GI) adverse events. Although the implementation of guidelines into clinical practice takes time, several studies have shown a recent and profound decrease in hospitalizations due to upper GI complications, which has been linked to widespread use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), better NSAID prescription, and decreased prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection. This is encouraging.