[Anorectal motility in systemic scleroderma]

We prospectively compared esophageal and rectal motility data from 7 patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (4 females, 3 males) to esophageal recordings in 22 and anorectal recordings in 9 healthy controls. All patients with sclerosis exhibited motility disturbances in the lower esophageal sphincter (LES): LES resting pressure, LES relaxation amplitude and duration, and the number of incomplete LES relaxations were significantly different compared to the controls. All patients had alterations of anorectal motility: resting pressure, maximal squeeze pressure, and sphincter relaxation amplitude following balloon distension of the rectum were significantly decreased as compared to the control subjects. We conclude that esophageal and anorectal manometry are comparable in their sensitivity to differentiate between patients with systemic sclerosis and normal subjects.