Evaluation of the esophageal pH monitoring and its relation with clinical indications: MePeache phase IEvaluación de los índices de monitoreo de pH esofágico y su relación con indicaciones clínicas: MePeache fase I

Abstract
Objectives: Establish mean values and normality range for pH metric parameters, different to reflux index (RI), in esophageal pH monitoring (EpHm) according to new RI cut- off values; besides, correlate them with clinical diagnosis. Method: Retrospective study of EpHm parameters including RI, number and average length of episodes (DPE), number of episodes > 5 minutes and duration of the longest episode. 153 patients were classified according to age (Group I < 1 year and Group II > 1 year) and RI cut-off values: Normal group (NL) with physiological range (RI < 12% GI and < 6% GII) and Pathological group (PT) when RI was higher. Results: The most frequent EpHm indications were gastroesophageal reflux (GER) study (41.7%), airway diseases (19.9%) and otolaryngologic diseases (17.2%). There was no correlation between EpHm parameters in GI (n = 53) when analyzed by gender, referring physician or EpHm indication. In GII (n = 100), the RI for children referred by pediatricians was higher than the one for those referred by gastroenterologists in Group NL (p = 0.002). There were differences in all pH metric parameters according to NL and PT groups, except DPE. 84.9% and 77% of the EpHms in GI and GII respectively were normal. Conclusions: The EpHm parameters allow the division in NL and PT groups according to new RI cut-off values. There is a weak correlation between clinical suspicion and pHmetric diagnosis, sugesting the necessity to reevaluate EpHm indications. © 2007 Sociedad Chilena de Pediatría.
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Keywords
Gastroesophageal reflux, PH monitoring, PH-metric index
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