REPRODUCIBILITY OF AMBULATORY ESOPHAGEAL PH MONITORING IN THE APERISTALTIC ESOPHAGUS

The reproducibility of ambulatory 24-h esophageal pH monitoring was ev aluated in 16 consecutive patients by comparing the difference in two consecutive 24-h periods. The study group included 8 patients with scl eroderma esophagus and 8 treated achalasia patients The amount of refl ux was expressed as the percentage of time the pH was < 4.0, Both grou ps demonstrated excellent intrapatient reproducibility overall: 96% in scleroderma patients and 95% in those patients with achalasia. The le ast concordance was found in the lengths of the longest reflux events- 70% when supine in scleroderma patients and 59% when upright in patien ts with achalasia. There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) betw een day 1 and day 2 for either group of patients for any of the elemen ts studied. These results indicate that intrapatient variability of ga stroesophageal reflux in patients with scleroderma esophagus and treat ed patients with achalasia is very low and following therapeutic inter vention, a high level of confidence can be placed in subsequent pH mon itoring as an indicator of treatment effect.