Preoperative oesophageal motor activity does not predict postoperative dysphagia

Objective: To evaluate the ability of preoperative manometric examinations to predict temporary or permanent dysphagia after antireflux procedures. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Teaching hospital, Sweden. Subjects: 191 patients who had partial fundoplication. Interventions: Stationary manometry with a perfused catheter system. Main outcome measures: Correlation between preoperative manometric examinat ions and the incidence of dysphagia before and after operation. Results: 98 of 191 patients had dysphagia preoperatively (51%). but 52 of t he 98 had no stricture or motor disorder to explain it; 25 of 59 patients w ith motor disorders shown manometrically (42%) did not complain of dysphagi a. The number of patients with dysphagia was reduced to 43 postoperatively. 8 who did not complain of dysphagia preoperatively did so postoperatively; 4 of 8 had defective peristalsis and 4 had normal preoperative tracings. Conclusions: Manometric examination does not help us to understand the mech anism of preoperative dysphagia, nor does it predict who will develop dysph agia postoperatively.