The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 91, 716-722, Copyright © 1986 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Twenty-four-hour monitoring of esophagopharyngeal pH in outpatients. Use of four-channel pH probe and computerized system
WH Falor, J Miller, J Kraus, S Fannin, V Greczanik, N Crocker and B Taylor
A 24 hour computerized four-channel esophagopharyngeal pH system is
described. Using a 1.5 mm diameter esophageal probe containing four
separate antimony-tipped electrodes and a small patient-worn digital
recording computer, inpatient and outpatient studies are performed in the
physiologic environment of the patient's workplace or home. Stored pH data
in the computer are teletransmitted from satellite esophageal pH
laboratories to a central esophageal pH laboratory for analysis, scoring,
printout, and storage. Satellite laboratories located in hospitals,
clinics, and physicians' offices use a minimum of equipment and obtain a
quality computer-based printout. This preserves patient- physician
relationships in the home environment and is cost-effective. Four case
reports are presented identifying the advantages derived from the
four-channel system localizing and quantifying the extent of cephalad
transport of refluxed upper gastrointestinal content. The system has unique
clinical and research potential in all age groups in such disparate
problems as sleep apnea, laryngitis, bradycardia and cardiac
irregularities, and aspiration pneumonia and pulmonary abscess.
