Abstract: Non-ulcer dyspepsia(NUD) is a common complaint.Little is known about the patho-genesis of the syndrome.It is intriguing to note the high incidene of helicobacter pylori(HP) infection in NUD.which is associated with a local antibody response directed against the or-ganism.An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) detection of Ig G antibodies a-gainst HP was used to examine sera from 335 patients with NUD.208 patients had HP-asso-ciated gastritis according to culture or histology.164 patients with NUD were studied in a prospective randomized placebocontrolled study to assess the effieacy of colloidol bismuth subcitrate (CBS, 0.11 qid, for 1 month) plus norfloxacin (0.2 tid, for 1 month).HP was cleared in 85% of CBS-Norfloxacin-treated patients compared with only 6% placebo(P< 0.01).Both acute and chronic inflammation improved in patients cleared of bacteria.Clear-ance of HP and histological improvement was associated with a significant decrease in symp-toms and antibody titres to HP after treatment.

Key words: non-ulcer dyspepsia, helicobacter pylori, ELISA, gastritis, colloidal bismuth subeitrate, norfloxacin