The relationship between heterotopic gastric mucosa in the cervical esophagus and laryngopharyngeal reflux.

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the possible correlations between the heterotopic gastric mucosa (HGM) islets in the cervical esophagus and laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR).

Patients And Methods: Between May 2010 and April 2011, 45 patients (36 females, 9 males; mean age 39.8±14.1 years; range 18 to 72 years) who had reflux symptom index (RSI) >10 and reflux finding score (RFS) >7 were included. The study group consisted of 21 patients who were diagnosed with HGM islets in the cervical esophagus, while control group consisted of 24 patients without any HGM islets assessed by upper gastrointestinal system endoscopy. Esophagus manometric examination and dual-channel 24-hour pH monitoring were performed on all patients.

Results: Pretreatment mean RSI and RFS were 25.6±3.5 and 15.1±3.4 in group 1, while it was found to be 21.1±4.4 and 11.9±2.6 in group 2 (p=0.001, p=0.001). A total of 29.7% of patients who underwent pH monitoring had distal reflux, whereas 43.2% of them had proximal reflux. In group 1, distal reflux was observed in 15.4% and proximal reflux was found in 54% of the patients, while distal reflux was observed in 38% and proximal reflux was found in 38% of the patients in group 2 (p=0.152; p=0.27). Fourteen patients diagnosed with HGM had antral- and seven patients had fundal-type epithelium.

Conclusion: Our study results suggest that HGM islets may be considered as an etiological factor in the patients with severe LPR with isolated proximal reflux based on the 24-hour pH monitoring.