Frequency of endoscopic esophagitis in nutcracker patients with pathological 24-hour pH monitoring

ABSTRACT

endoscopically, it was claimed that reflux esophagitis is less frequently seen in patients with tertiary contractions. the aim of this prospective study is to evaluate the frequency of endoscopic esophagitis in nutcracker patients with pathological 24-hours ph monitoring as compared to a matched group of patients with pathological prolonged ambulatory ph monitoring. the study included eight patients with nutcracker esophagus and pathological 24-hours ph monitoring [group 1]; mean [sd] age was 36.5 [10.6] years, mean [sd] les pressure was 11 [2.9] mmhg and% total ph<4 was 11.4 which were not statistically different from a matched control of 25 patients [group 2]. patients with underlying definable systemic diseases were excluded from the study. there nutcracker esophagus and eight control showed evidence of endoscopic esophagitis [p value = 0.9]. among group I, nutcracker patients with endoscopic esophagitis had a tendency towards a lower LES pressure [p=0.03] and total time ph<4 [p=0.003] than nutcracker without endoscopic oesophagitis. moreover, nutcracker patients with endoscopic esocphagitis had a significantly greater% total ph<4 and total time ph<4 than control group with endoscopic esophagitis is in nutcracker and a matched control with phathological 24-hours pH monitoring