Association of reflux symptom index scores with gastroesophageal flap valve status.

Objective: Gastroesophageal reflux disease is a chronic symptom of mucosal damage caused by gastric acid reflux. Impaired gastroesophageal flap valve (GEFV) is one of the common etiologic factors of gastroesophageal reflux. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between GEFV, RSI, and GER in patients who underwent gastroesophageal endoscopy.

Methods: Two hundred and fifty seven consecutive patients with reflux symptoms (151 men and 106 women, mean age was 50.22 years) who underwent routine upper gastrointestinal endoscopy were enrolled to our study. GEFV was graded as I through IV according to the Hill's classification. Symptoms of laryngopharyngeal and upper gastrointestinal disease and endoscopic severity of esophageal injury were correlated with GEFV status. The GEFV was classified into two groups: normal GEFV group (grade I) and the abnormal GEFV group (grades II-III and IV). The reflux symptom index (RSI) was used as a diagnostic tool for LPR.

Results: Age, male gender, and body mass index were significantly related to an abnormal GEFV. The rate of abnormal grades of GEFV (Grade II+III+IV) was 31%. Age of normal and abnormal grades of GEFV (49.0/50.8 vs 52.9) and values of BMI (26.2/26.7 vs 26.5) were similar. RSI scores were correlated with gastroesophageal flap valve grades but RSI scores were not correlated with Los Angeles gastroesophageal reflux (GER) Classification. Moreover, gastroesophageal reflux grade of Los Angeles Classification was positively correlated with gastroesophageal flap valve grades.

Conclusion: Endoscopic grading of GEFV is a simple and useful technique which may provide an accurate diagnosis of laryngopharyngeal and gastroesophageal reflux. Also, reflux symptom index (RSI) is a simple, economic and noninvasive diagnostic tool for gastroesophageal reflux. However, in this research, we did not find any correlation between reflux symptom index and degree of esophageal mucosal injury which was classified according to LA classification.