Total healing time
The healing time of an esophagitis is strongly dependent on the original cause of the inflammation, as the therapy also depends on it. The most common form of esophagitis, the so-called reflux esophagitis, is caused by stomach acid returning from the stomach to the esophagus, where it attacks the mucous membrane, which is not equipped for contact with acid. In this case, treatment is usually carried out with drugs that inhibit the production of acid in the stomach so that the gastric fluid is less “corrosive” and the mucous membrane of the oesophagus is less affected.
As a rule, therapy with these drugs, which are known as proton pump inhibitors (e.g. Pantozol®), takes several weeks until the mucous membrane has recovered. It should be emphasized, however, that this type of esophagitis usually has a chronic course, i.e. it can occur again and again. Infectious esophagitis, caused by viruses or fungi, for example, often has to be treated with medication, and it often takes several weeks for the finding to heal completely.
Duration of symptoms
The duration of symptoms in patients suffering from oesophagitis also depends to a large extent on what caused the inflammation and what treatment is given. In the most common form of inflammation, reflux esophagitis (often noticed by those affected as heartburn), the symptoms sometimes last for months if no adequate therapy is initiated. If a drug therapy with acid-inhibiting drugs is started, the symptoms usually recede after a few days to weeks, but in many cases they can flare up again and again as the inflammation is often chronic.
Duration of the therapy
Here we will only discuss the most common form of esophagitis, the reflux esophagitis, which is caused by the regular reflux of gastric acid into the esophagus (noticed by the patients as heartburn). The therapy usually involves the use of drugs that inhibit the acid production of the cells that produce gastric juice. A typical example is pantozole.
The duration of treatment varies greatly and depends on how the symptoms develop. Usually, treatment is necessary over several weeks. Patients in whom the disease has occurred for the first time can then be given an outlet, i.e. a break from the acid-inhibiting medication. Often, however, the inflammation then returns, especially if the risk factors (nicotine and alcohol consumption, fatty meals, overweight) are not changed and the tablets are then taken permanently. In the case of inflammation of the esophagus caused by infection, for example, a throroesophagitis caused by a fungal infection, often with limited function of the immune system, the treatment usually lasts 2-4 weeks.
