title: [Limitations of the traditional manometric test and advantages of computerized manometry in the study of esophageal motility].
abstract: The analysis of esophageal motility tracings is laborious, time consuming and subject to reader variability. The motility traces of five patients were analyzed separately by five experienced readers, in order to assess the inter and intra observer variability. Later on, the manual analysis of the motility traces of five healthy volunteers and four patients was compared to the automatic analysis performed by a computerized system. The inter- and intra-observer variability (expressed as coefficient of variation) was high in the manual analysis, especially for the abdominal length of the lower sphincter and the duration of the esophageal body contractions (coefficient of variation ranging from 18 to 43%). On the contrary, automatic readings proved almost identical to the means obtained by manual analysis (Pearson factor 0.988 for amplitude and 0.89 for the duration of contractions). Moreover, the computerized automatic analysis gave a significant time gain in respect to manual readings and eliminated the inter and intra-observer variability.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Semeiotica Chirurgica Università di Padova.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zaninotto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Costantini
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Polo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Finco
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cecolin
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sebartoli
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ancona
mesh_terms: D001330:Electronic Data Processing; D004947:Esophagus / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008365:Manometry / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008838:Microcomputers; D015588:Observer Variation; D010528:Peristalsis / Q000502:physiology
vernacular_title: Limiti dell'esame manometrico tradizionale e vantaggi della manometria computerizzata nello studio della motilità esofagea.