ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate esophageal response to intraesophageal balloon-distention and acid perfusion stimuli and to evaluate the visceral hypersensitivity in non erosive reflux disease (NERD) patients.Methods Thirty-one NERD patients diagnosed by reflux disease questionnaire (RDQ) and endoscopy and 10 control subjects were enrolled in this study.Esophageal mechanical sensitivity was measured by esophageal barostat and recorded as initial perception threshold and maximal tolerated pain threshold by volume.The chemical sensitivity was measured by acid perfusion test,and quantified by two parameters (trigger time and acid related symptom score).Results Initial perception threshold and maximally tolerated pain threshold of NERD patients was (9.6?4.8) ml and (12.3?3.2) ml, significantly lower than those of controls,(13.2?7.5) ml and (21.6?5.7) ml,respectively (P