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Published on: December 14, 2020

Esophageal motility patterns in patients with and without coronary heart disease and healthy controls

R J Adamek1, B Roth, C H Zymanski

  • 1Department of Medicine, St. Josef-Hospital, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany.

Hepato-Gastroenterology
|August 3, 1999
PubMed

Insights

Chest pain patients, with or without coronary artery disease, exhibit distinct esophageal motility patterns compared to controls. These findings suggest "non-cardiac" chest pain is not a sufficiently accurate descriptor.

Area of Science:

  • Gastroenterology
  • Cardiology
  • Diagnostic Medicine

Background:

  • Chest pain is a common symptom with diverse etiologies.
  • Distinguishing cardiac from non-cardiac causes can be challenging.
  • Esophageal dysfunction is a potential contributor to chest pain.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate and compare esophageal motility in patients presenting with chest pain.
  • To investigate differences in esophageal function between patients with and without coronary artery disease (CAD).
  • To determine if "non-cardiac" chest pain is an adequate diagnostic term.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective study design.
  • Inclusion of three groups: chest pain with normal coronary angiograms (NCA), chest pain with diagnosed CAD, and healthy controls (CG).
  • Utilized long-term esophageal manometry for motility assessment.

Main Results:

  • Significant differences in esophageal pressure amplitudes and contraction patterns were observed between patient groups and controls.
  • Patients with NCA and CAD showed considerable overlap in esophageal motility disturbances.
  • Specific metrics like percentage of propulsive and simultaneous contractions differed significantly.

Conclusions:

  • Esophageal motility patterns in chest pain patients (both NCA and CAD) are significantly different from controls.
  • The overlap in motility disturbances challenges the clear distinction implied by "non-cardiac" chest pain.
  • The term "non-cardiac" chest pain inadequately describes the esophageal dysfunction present in these patients.
Abstract

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