RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in recipients of lung transplant (LTX) is associated with chronic allograft rejection, presumably via microaspiration that damages airway epithelium. Most LTX programs perform a single post-LTX esophageal study to evaluate for GER; the efficacy of this test is unclear. METHODS: Patients with 1 year of post-LTX follow-up, including routine bronchoscopies with bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples as well as high-resolution esophageal manometry and pH probe monitoring (HREMpH), were evaluated. BALF samples were analyzed with competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect bile salts, which are indicative of aspiration. These results were compared to results of HREMpH studies post LTX. RESULTS: Ninety BALF samples were analyzed for bile salts and acted as disease positive for this evaluation. Of the 13 HREMpH cases, 8 were positive for GER, but only 3 were positive for bile salts via assay. Of the 5 HREMpH-negative cases, 2 experienced aspiration. A solitary HREMpH study had 60.0% sensitivity and 37.5% specificity with positive and negative likelihood ratios: 0.96 and 1.07, respectively. CONCLUSION: Microaspiration appears to be an intermittent phenomenon, and HREMpH screening poorly correlates with BALF evidence of aspiration; which may not be adequate. As aspiration detection is crucial in this population, further analysis is warranted.
