Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a common disorder in Western countries. For many years our attention has been focused on patients with erosive esophagitis, but in recent times we have realized that endoscopy-negative reflux disease is the most common presentation of this illness, affecting up to 70% of these individuals. Patients with the non-erosive form (NERD) are a heterogeneous gr...

OBJECTIVE To identify predictors of long-term outcome of laparoscopic Heller myotomy for achalasia, including predictors of heartburn and recurrent dysphagia, which occasionally develop postoperatively. DESIGN Retrospective review using interviews of patients. SETTING Academic university hospital. PATIENTS One hundred sixty-five patients with achalasia who underwent a laparoscopic esophag...

BACKGROUND Omeprazole and lansoprazole are 2 proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) currently available in the United States. Both PPIs are approved for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and are commonly converted in therapeutic interchange programs. OBJECTIVE To measure clinical and humanistic outcomes in patients with GERD converted from treatment with omeprazole to treatment w...

BACKGROUND Gastric reflux can reach into the upper airway, inducing cellular damage in the epithelial lining. This condition is believed to be a risk factor for development of laryngopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LPSCC), although the literature is conflicting. METHODS To better clarify this relationship, we assessed the association of self-reported heartburn history and medication use a...

BACKGROUND Higher body mass index (BMI) is a recognised risk factor for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Data regarding the impact of BMI on proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy are conflicting. AIM To assess the impact of BMI on baseline heartburn symptom severity and frequency and response to PPI therapy in patients with non-erosive GERD (NERD) or erosive oesophagitis (EO). METHOD...

Several investigators have observed that repeated acid infusions induce stronger symptoms (symptom hypersensitivity). The goal of our study was to determine whether symptom hypersensitivity is associated with esophageal contractile hypersensitivity. Subjects with chronic heartburn symptoms underwent simultaneous pressure and ultrasound imaging of esophagus. Normal saline and 0.1 N HCl were sequ...

BACKGROUND When measuring treatment effect on symptoms, the treatment success variable should be as responsive as possible. The aim of the study was to investigate the responsiveness of various treatment success variables in patients with symptoms of heartburn. METHODS A total of 1640 patients with non-erosive reflux disease (NERD) were treated with proton pump inhibitors for 4 weeks. Treatme...

Background/Aims The post-reflux swallow-induced peristaltic wave (PSPW) index and esophageal baseline impedance (BI) are novel impedance parameters used to evaluate esophageal chemical clearance and mucosal integrity. However, their relationship with reflux symptoms is not known. We aim to evaluate the correlations of PSPW index and esophageal BI with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symp...

headache is a common symptom that constitutes a major health problem to all countries in the world. this study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of migraine and tension -type headaches(tth), its associated occupational risk factors among shiraz hospitals staffs, and to report on clinical characteristics of migraine and tth with using the international headache society (ihs) diagnosis cri...