Ineffective esophageal motility assessment in patients with and without pathological esophageal acid reflux

Abstract Ineffective esophageal motility (IEM), defined as minor esophageal motility disorder, is also the most common esophageal motility disorder. The relationship between gastro-esophageal reflux disease is still controversial. Our aim in this study is to evaluate whether there are differences in terms of demographic, endoscopic, or motility findings between IEM patients with pathological esophageal acid reflux and physiological reflux. Patients diagnosed with IEM according to the Chicago classification v3 with high-resolution manometry (HRM) before acid monitoring constituted the study group of our investigation. The patients were divided into 2 groups as patients with pathological esophageal reflux and patients with physiological reflux according to 24-hour acid monitoring. Demographic data, endoscopic findings, and HRM findings were compared between 2 groups. A total of 62 patients who were diagnosed with IEM according to the Chicago classification v3 were included in the study. Patients in the physiological reflux group were 7 years younger on average than the pathological reflux group. Esophagitis rates were significantly higher in the pathological reflux group ( P = .033). Lower esophageal sphincter resting pressure, integrated relaxation pressure, and the presence of hernia were found to be similar in the 2 groups ( P = 392, P = 182, P = 657, respectively). The rate of severe IEM was also similar between the 2 groups ( P = .143). The fact that the physiological reflux patient group is younger may suggest that the IEM develops in the early period and then reflux accompanies the picture with advancing age.