title: Gastro-esophageal reflux demonstrated by radiography in infants less than 1 year of age. Comparison with pH monitoring.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To correlate gastro-esophageal reflux (GER) demonstrated on radiography, with reflux determined on 24-h pH monitoring among infants of less than 1 year of age.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one infants with suspected GER were examined. In the supine position the infants drank 20-60 ml of barium contrast, and the presence or absence of hiatal hernia, gastric outlet obstruction, or intestinal malrotation was evaluated. The infant was placed in the 25 degrees right oblique supine position and fed 2-3 swallows of milk by a feeding bottle. GER was scored as positive on radiography when the contrast column reached a level of at least 3 vertebral segments above the gastro-esophageal junction (GEJ). An antimony intraluminal esophageal pH probe was positioned 2 vertebral segments above the GEJ as identified by the barium swallow, confirmed on radiography after positioning and prior to probe removal. A total time of esophageal pH <4 exceeding 5% was assigned as pathological.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The radiological method of GER evaluation showed a specificity of 50% and a sensitivity of 29%, as compared to 24-h pH monitoring.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The radiological method was of no value among infants of less than 1 year when demonstrating GER.
authors.affiliation: Motility Laboratory, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark. kbaks@akh.aaa.dk
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aksglaede
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Funch-Jensen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thommesen
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011859:Radiography