Challenges in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Hiccup in Neurological Patients

Hiccup is a prevalent event in the general population and can be found from milder, (so-called benign) to persistent and intractable forms. Hiccups have several causes, but stimulation of the phrenic nerve with compression, deformation and traction are among the most prevalent which could be consequence of mediastinal or lung cancer, gastric and/or esophageal distention, gastroesophageal reflux, instruments (catheters and intubation), cholecystitis, pericarditis or neurological causes. The objective of this paper is to stablish one treatment protocol and hiccup treatment in acute, persistent and intractable stages. A literature review was performed at Scielo, Pubmed, Ebsco, Clin Neuropharmacol, and ScienceDirect databases. Articles and publications from 1970 to 2015 were selected. The relevance of this article is the challenge for diagnostic and the difficulty to stablish the best plan to be addressed in cases of persistent or intractable hiccups in neurological patients, since they probably have many causes.