Early acid perception in NERD

Heartburn is the hallmark of gastroesophageal reflux disease. The hypothesis tested in this study is that the time of onset of this symptom may play a role in the development of mucosal lesions. During endoscopy of 61 patients complaining of heartburn and nine control subjects, gastric fluid was aspirated using a catheter introduced through the operative channel, and blindly instilled onto the esophageal mucosa before withdrawing the endoscope. Saline was used as control. Evocated symptoms and endoscopic lesions were recorded. Thirty-seven patients did not present esophageal lesions (nonerosive reflux disease [NERD]); 24 presented esophagitis (ERD). Instillation of gastric fluid on the esophageal mucosa elicited heartburn in 46% of patients with NERD, 8.3% with ERD, and 11.1% of controls. Symptoms lasted throughout the procedure but were no longer present when the gastroscope was withdrawn. The NERD value was significantly higher than that of ERD (P= 0.02) and controls (P= 0.02), while no difference was found between ERD and controls. Saline did not induce symptoms either in controls or patients. NERD patients show an early response to gastric fluid instillation much more frequently than ERD and controls. It is hypothesized that the early onset of symptoms in NERD patients may be a possibility to avoid the progress of mucosal lesions by claiming an earlier medical care.