Gastric symptoms and duodenogastric reflux in patients referred for gastroesophageal reflux symptoms and endoscopic esophagitis.

BACKGROUND: The role of excessive duodenogastric reflux (DRG) in the genesis of gastric symptoms in patients primarily referred for both gastroesophageal reflux (GER) symptoms and esophagitis is poorly understood. METHODS: The study is based on the clinical, endoscopic, histologic, and 24-hour gastric data from the Bilitec optoelectronic device (Prodotec, Florence, Italy, licensed by Synectics Medical, Stockholm, Sweden) from 49 patients having both typical GER symptoms and gastric symptoms suggestive of excessive DGR (i.e., epigastric pain, nausea, or bilious vomiting) in the absence of previous esophageal or gastric surgery (group 1). Helicobacter pylori organisms were searched for on antral biopsy specimens with use of the Giemsa method. The percentages of total, upright, and supine time during which absorbance exceeded various thresholds through all the working range of the Bilitec device were calculated. Bilitec data from group 1 were compared with those from 16 patients with endoscopic esophagitis and GER symptoms only (group 2) and 25 healthy subjects (group 3). RESULTS: The prevalence of an abnormal Bilitec test result in group 1 increased from 27% (13/49) at the 0.25 absorbance threshold to 36% (18/49) at thresholds ranging from 0.40 to 0.60 and to 41% (20/49) when multiple thresholds ranging from 0.25 to 0.60 were considered. In group 2 one patient had an abnormal Bilitec test result at the 0.25 to 0.30 threshold, whereas the other 15 patients had a normal test result. H pylori antral infection was present in 14 group 1 patients. None of these had an abnormal Bilitec test result, whereas the test was positive in 40% of the H pylori-negative patients without endoscopic gastritis and in 70% of H pylori-negative patients with endoscopic gastritis (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: Twenty-four-hour intragastric bile monitoring provides the clinician with unequivocal evidence of excessive DGR in 41% of patients with an intact stomach having endoscopic esophagitis, GER symptoms, and gastric symptoms suggestive of DGR. The most dependable data are obtained when absorbance thresholds higher than 0.40 are considered. H pylori antral infection and excessive DGR at 24-hour intragastric bile monitoring are mutually exclusive.