Paper
The Burden of Gastrointestinal, Liver, and Pancreatic Diseases: The Global Scenario.
Published Apr 1, 2016 · Srijit Das, P. Mahakkanukrauh, C. Ho
Gastroenterology
18
Citations
1
Influential Citations
Abstract
Dear Editor: I read with interest the article by Babaei et al regarding impaired upper esophageal sphincter (UES) reflexes in patients with supraesophageal reflux disease. I am concerned about the group of patients that was used as the disease group. There is no proof that their symptoms of chronic cough, throat burning, and/or hoarseness are manifestations of reflux. What the study found was that in patients who have these symptoms, their UES reflexes are disturbed. The study’s control group should have distinguished their 25 symptomatic patients from patients with known other causes of such symptoms. There are a myriad of conditions that cause the same throat symptoms, such as asthma, postnasal drip, and vocal cord issues. I wonder if manometry studies in other throat conditions would have compared. Simply, is it possible that chronic coughing and throat clearing (not from reflux) can induce the same manometry findings? Just as a red throat does not prove causal reflux, UES motility abnormalities do not prove causal reflux either. We need a test to decide when reflux is causing the throat symptoms before we look for a cause of reflux induced symptoms. More work needs to be done. I applaud the authors for their efforts and look forward to their continued work in this area.
This study found impaired upper esophageal sphincter reflexes in patients with supraesophageal reflux disease, but it's unclear if reflux is causing the throat symptoms.
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