Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease or GORD is frequently used as a broad term to refer to a number of digestive disorders or a broad spectrum of oesophagus 
complaints. However, it is more useful to consider GORD as two distinct entities with a number of different subsets that have different causes and require different approaches in treatment.
One entity of GORD is classic severe acid reflux with erosive oesophagitis and its complications. This is also known as erosive gastro-oesophageal reflux disease or erosive GORD.
Erosive GORD occurs when stomach acid moves in the wrong direction, flowing back up (
reflux) into your oesophagus, causing discomfort. Over time, reflux of acid may erode the lining of the oesophagus, leading to inflammation and ulcers. This is called Barrett's oesophagus, a condition where abnormal cells develop on the inner lining of the oesophagus. Long-term exposure to these cells can occasionally cause adenocarcinoma or cancer of the lining of the oesophagus.
The second entity is symptomatic gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. This is also known as non-erosive reflux disease or NERD with minimal or no oesophagitis or inflammation of the lower end of the oesophagus or gullet. Symptomatic gastro-oesophageal reflux disease refers to a presence of typical symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease but the wearing away process cannot be seen during an endoscopy .
Patients with symptomatic GORD do not develop local mucosa complications or complications to the lining of the gullet, but the symptoms can be as severe as those experienced with erosive oesophagitis.
"Gastro-oesophageal Reflux (GOR)" or "Reflux" is the medical term used to describe a condition in which stomach contents - food and gastric acid - frequently flow back up out of the stomach into the oesophagus. The food that comes up may or may not flow all the way out of the mouth. It may be forceful vomiting which rapidly and completely empties the stomach, or it can be more like a "wet burp" (a form of vomiting but with less volume) that doesn't reach the mouth.
