Oesophageal emptying in patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux.

A reproducible radionuclide technique for measurement of oesophageal emptying of a solid bolus has been used to study normal control subjects, patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux and a subgroup of these patients before and after fundoplication. The number of swallows to empty the oesophagus was significantly delayed in the gastro-oesophageal reflux group compared to controls (P less than 0.001). As a group, patients describing dysphagia had slower oesophageal emptying than patients without dysphagia (P less than 0.001). The presence or absence of pre-existing oesophagitis did not influence oesophageal emptying significantly. Following fundoplication patients did not show any significant alteration in their oesophageal emptying compared with their pre-operative studies, although individually changes were noted in two patients. The solid bolus oesophageal emptying test is easily performed, well tolerated by patients and is a useful method for studying oesophageal dysfunction.