Background: Transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations (TLESRs) are the main mechanism underlying gastro-esophageal reflux and are detected during manometric studies using well defined criteria. Recently, high-resolution esophageal pressure topography (HREPT) has been introduced and is now considered as the new standard to study esophageal and lower esophageal sphincter (LES) function. In this study we performed a head-to-head comparison between HREPT and conventional sleeve manometry for the detection of TLESRs.
Methods: A setup with two synchronized MMS-solar systems was used. A solid state HREPT catheter, a water-perfused sleeve catheter, and a multi intraluminal impedance pH (MII-pH) catheter were introduced in 10 healthy volunteers (M6F4, age 19-56). Subjects were studied 0.5 h before and 3 h after ingestion of a standardized meal. Tracings were blinded and analyzed by the three authors according to the TLESR criteria.
Key results: In the HREPT mode 156 TLESRs were scored, vs 143 during sleeve manometry (P = 0.10). Hundred and twenty-three TLESRs were scored by both techniques. Of all TLESRs (177), 138 were associated with reflux (78%). High-resolution esophageal pressure topography detected significantly more TLESRs associated with a reflux event (132 vs 119, P = 0.015) resulting in a sensitivity for detection of TLESRs with reflux of 96% compared to 86% respectively. Analysis of the discordant TLESRs associated with reflux showed that TLESRs were missed by sleeve manometry due to low basal LES pressure (N = 5), unstable pharyngeal signal (N = 4), and residual sleeve pressure >2 mmHg (N = 10).
Conclusions & inferences: The HREPT is superior to sleeve manometry for the detection of TLESRs associated with reflux. However, rigid HREPT criteria are awaited.
© 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.