Evaluation of oesophageal transit in patients with minor peptic oesophagitis

Fifty-one adult patients with complaints suggesting peptic oesophagitis were submitted within the same week to a radionuclide swallow test (OT), an endoscopy and a manometry in order to evaluate the incidence of oesophageal peristaltic abnormalities in patients with only minor peptic oesophagitis. In all patients with normal endoscopy, OT did not show any transit abnormality. In the patients with slight (Stage I) or moderate (Stage II) oesophagitis, OT was abnormal in 60% of the cases. The results were at least as good as those obtained by means of manometry and suggest that OT is an accurate method for the detection of slight impairment of oesophageal contractility.