[Comparison of the value of various methods for diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux]

At the University Surgical Clinic Köln-Lindenthal 5 different methods were employed for assessment of gastro-esophageal reflux between 1975 - 1976 in 283 patients with and without reflux disturbances. Clinically, a gastro-esophageal reflux was found in 72% of the cases. The measurement of intra-esophageal pH with reflux-provocation was the most sensitive, and at the same time the most specific (83, 3%). Significant differentiation betwen patients with and without reflux who had an axial hiatus-hernia could not be made, using x-ray examination and counting of the number of times swallowed in the acid-clearing test. The most suitable procedure in proving the presence of gastro-esophageal reflux was esophagoscopy, intra-esophageal pH-measurement and acid-clearing-and-pH determination, in all of which the results correlated with each other to a high degree.