Impact of ineffective esophageal motility on secondary peristalsis: Studies with high-resolution manometry

The aim was to investigate whether there is a difference in secondary peristalsis on high-resolution manometry (HRM) among gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) patients with and without ineffective esophageal motility (IEM), and healthy individuals.

Twenty-eight GERD patients and seventeen healthy controls were included. Secondary peristalsis was stimulated by a rapid injection of 20 ml air in mid-esophagus. We compared HRM metrics and the response and effective rate of triggering secondary peristalsis between patients with and without IEM and healthy controls.

Sixteen patients had IEM, and the remaining 12 had normal manometry. By triggering of secondary peristalsis, patients without IEM and healthy controls had significantly higher distal contractile integral (DCI) values than IEM patients (p = 0.006). A successful secondary peristalsis was triggered more frequently in healthy controls than in GERD patients with normal peristalsis or IEM (56.9% vs. 20.2% vs. 9.1%, all p < 0.001). The effective rate which determined as DCI > 450 mm Hg.cm.s was higher in healthy controls compared to patients with normal peristalsis (36.5% vs. 19.4%, p < 0.001) and IEM (36.5% vs. 6.3%, p < 0.001). Patients with IEM had lower successful triggering response (9.1% vs. 20.2%) and effective secondary peristalsis (6.3% vs. 19.4%) compared with patients without IEM (p < 0.001).

Our work has demonstrated that GERD patients, in particular those with IEM, have significant defects in the triggering of secondary peristalsis on HRM. HRM helps characterize esophageal secondary peristalsis which exhibits differently in patients with and without IEM.