Dual pH probe monitoring versus single pH probe monitoring in infants on milk feeds: the impact on diagnosis

Objectives-Oesophageal pH monitoring is the gold standard technique for the detection of gastro-oesophageal reflux in adults and children. A standard parameter used to define "abnormal" reflux is the percentage of recording t ime for which the gastric pH is < 4. This study investigated the relevance of this measure in infants on regular milk feeds whose gastric contents and refluxate will be neutral for most of the recording time. Methods-Simultaneous oesophageal and gastric pH monitoring was carried out on all infants who were milk fed exclusively and admitted to hospital for s uspected gastro-oesophageal reflux. In vitro studies were performed to esta blish the buffering capacities of the fruit juice, Dioralyte (a glucose ele ctrolyte solution), breast milk, and milk formula feeds available on the pa ediatric wards. Results-Complete sets of data were obtained from 30 babies with a mean age of 4 months. Gastric pH was less than or equal to 4 for a mean (SEM) of 42. 4 (4.9)% of the recording time. The mean (SEM) percentage time that oesopha geal pH was < 4 for the total recording period was 6.89 (0.92)%. Recalculat ion of the percentage of time that the gastric pH was > 4 increased this va lue to 17.81 (2.46)%. Using a cut off point of 10%, 11 of the 30 babies wou ld have been diagnosed positive for reflux using the conventional method; h owever, recalculation by ignoring the time for which gastric pH was high do ubled this to 22 positive for reflux. Conclusion-Combined oesophageal and gastric pH monitoring greatly increases the number of positive results from tests in infants on regular milk feeds .