Pharyngeal pH measurements in patients with respiratory symptoms before and during proton pump inhibitor therapy
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 5, 2026
Simultaneous Laryngopharyngeal and Conventional Esophageal pH Monitoring
Published on: December 14, 2020
T R Eubanks1, P Omelanczuk, A Hillel
1Department of Surgery, University of Washington Medical Center, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Box 356410, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. eubanks@u.washington.edu
Background:
Pharyngeal pH monitoring is a diagnostic tool used to identify Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) as an etiology of respiratory symptoms. We performed pharyngeal pH monitoring on 14 patients with respiratory symptoms thought to be induced by GERD.
Methods:
Symptoms and pH monitoring (esophageal and pharyngeal) were assessed prior to and 3 months after the initiation of double-dose proton pump inhibitor therapy.
Results:
Symptoms included cough, hoarseness, and throat clearing. Ten patients had at least one episode of pharyngeal reflux (PR+) and 4 patients had no pharyngeal reflux (PR-). Pharyngeal reflux episodes in PR+ patients decreased from 3.5 to 0.9 (P <0.05) per day with 8 of 10 (80%) patients having elimination or reduction of such episodes. Eight of 9 PR+ patients (89%) with suppressed pharyngeal reflux on medical therapy had resolution of respiratory symptoms. Three of 4 PR- patients (75%) had persistent symptoms on medical therapy.
Conclusions:
Proton pump inhibitor therapy improves clinical symptoms and decreases pharyngeal reflux episodes in patients with respiratory symptoms related to GERD. Direct measurement of pharyngeal pH is helpful in the identification of patients likely to respond to antireflux therapy.
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