COMPARISON OF LOWER ESOPHAGEAL SPHINCTER PRESSURE MEASUREMENT USING CIRCUMFERENTIAL VS UNIDIRECTIONAL TRANSDUCERS

Average values from unidirectional (UND) transducers have traditionall y been used in standard manometric evaluation of lower oesophageal sph incter pressures (LOSPs). A single circumferential (CMF) transducer ha s recently become popular. Our aim was to compare LOSP measurements ma de using the two techniques. Ten healthy volunteers were intubated wit h a Konigsberg manometry catheter containing five solid-state transduc ers (four unidirectional at 90 degrees angles radially and 2.5-cm inte rvals and one circumferential, 3 cm distal). LOSP was measured using t he station pull-through technique in the supine and upright positions with Synectics polygram software for computerized analysis. Mean UND p ressures were plotted against CMF pressures and a linear regression an d correlation analysis was performed. A similar analysis was done for LOS length. A significant difference (P < 0.01) was found between mean (+/-SE) supine and upright LOSPs for both mean UND (20.21 +/- 1.36 vs 15.56 +/- 1.28 mmHg) and CMF (20.41 +/- 1.96 vs 26.17 +/- 1.61 mmHg); however no difference was shown between supine and upright lengths. T here was a high degree of correlation between LOSP (r=0.83) and a weak er correlation (r=0.65) between LOS lengths when measured by CMF and U ND transducers. Conclusion: UND and CMF transducers provide identical measurements when evaluating the LOS.