Publications by authors named "Marcia R Willis"
Background & Aims: More than half of patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) report heartburn that awakens them from sleep. We aimed to determine the frequency of conscious awakenings associated with acid reflux events during sleep and their relationship with symptoms in patients with GERD compared with normal subjects.
Methods: The study included 39 patients with heartburn and/or regurgitation at least 3 times each week and 9 healthy individuals as controls.
Background: Failure of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) treatment in patients with heartburn is very common. Because endoscopy is easily accessible, it is commonly used as the first evaluative tool in these patients.
Objective: To compare GERD-related endoscopic and histologic findings in patients with heartburn in whom once-daily PPI therapy failed versus those not receiving antireflux treatment.
Objectives: Characterization of gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) events during the sleep period has been hampered by lack of any patient-friendly technique that allows accurate assessment of sleep duration and awakening time, without confining patients to a sleep laboratory. Our aim was to compare principal reflux characteristics during the upright, recumbent-awake, and recumbent-asleep periods as well as to determine the effect of sleep awakenings on the principal reflux characteristics of the recumbent-asleep period using novel technology that allows integration of recorded actigraphy data into collected pH information.
Methods: Patients with heartburn at least three times a week for the previous 3 months were invited to participate in this study.