Progressive systemic sclerosis: radionuclide esophageal scintigraphy and manometry

Area of Science:

• Gastroenterology
• Rheumatology
• Nuclear Medicine

Background:

• Progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) frequently involves esophageal dysfunction.
• Accurate assessment of esophageal involvement is crucial for managing PSS patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prospectively evaluate esophageal involvement and disease severity in PSS patients using radionuclide esophageal scintigraphy (RES) and manometry.
• To determine the correlation between RES and manometry findings in PSS.

Main Methods:

• 11 patients with PSS underwent RES and esophageal manometry.
• RES quantitation included percentage of esophageal emptying at 30 seconds.
• Manometry measured proximal, distal, and lower esophageal sphincter (LES) pressures.

Main Results:

• All 11 patients exhibited abnormal findings on both RES and manometry.
• High correlations were observed between RES emptying percentage and distal esophageal pressure (r = .86) and LES pressure (r = .79).
• No significant correlation was found between RES emptying and proximal esophageal pressure (r = .28).

Conclusions:

• RES is a safe, simple, and well-accepted procedure for evaluating esophageal involvement in PSS.
• RES can be utilized as a substitute for manometry in detecting and staging esophageal disease in PSS.
• RES findings correlate significantly with key manometric parameters of esophageal function in PSS.