Saliva transit in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Saliva is an important factor in the neutralization of the acidity of the refluxed material that comes from the stomach to the esophagus. The impairment of saliva transit from oral cavity to distal esophagus may be one of the causes of esophagitis and symptoms in gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). With the scintigraphic method, the transit of 2 mL of artificial saliva was measured in 30 patients with GERD and 26 controls. The patients with GERD had symptoms of heartburn and acid regurgitation, a 24-hour pH monitoring with more than 4.2% of the time with pH below four, 26 with erosive esophagitis, and four with non-erosive reflux disease. Fourteen had mild dysphagia for solid foods. Twenty-one patients had normal esophageal manometry, and nine had ineffective esophageal motility. They were 15 men and 15 women, aged 21-61 years, mean 39 years. The control group had 14 men and 12 women, aged 19-61 years, mean 35 years. The subjects swallowed in the sitting and supine position 2 mL of artificial saliva labeled with 18 MBq of (99m) Technetium phytate. The time of saliva transit was measured from oral cavity to esophageal-gastric transition, from proximal esophagus to esophageal-gastric transition, and the transit through proximal, middle, and distal esophageal body. There was no difference between patients and controls in the time for saliva to go from oral cavity to esophageal-gastric transition, and from proximal esophagus to esophageal-gastric transition, in the sitting and supine positions. In distal esophagus in the sitting position, the saliva transit duration was shorter in patients with GERD (3.0 ± 0.8 seconds) than in controls (7.6 ± 1.7 seconds, P = 0.03). In conclusion, the saliva transit from oral cavity to the esophageal-gastric transition in patients with GERD has the same duration than in controls. Saliva transit through the distal esophageal body is faster in patients with GERD than controls.