Radionuclide esophageal transit test: detection of esophageal dysmotility and reflux in noncardiac chest pain.
Thirty-one patients with substernal chest pain but with normal coronary angiographic findings and 25 normal volunteers were included in our study. Esophageal motility--including esophageal mean transit time (MTT), residual fraction (RF), and retrograde index (RI) of the two groups--were evaluated by the radionuclide esophageal transit test. The results showed that among patients with noncardiac chest pain (NCP), 48% have a longer MTT, 39% have a higher RF, and 58% have a higher RI than normal volunteers. We found that esophageal disorders are a common source of noncardiac chest pain, and that radionuclide esophageal transit test is a simple noninvasive screening method to detect esophageal dysmotility or gastroesophageal reflux in such cases.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, Republic of China.
C H
CH
Kao
S J
SJ
Wang
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D015154:Esophageal Motility Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004947:Esophagus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010528:Peristalsis; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging