Continuous 24 hour intragastric pH monitoring: focus on reproducibility in duodenal ulcer patients. A preliminary report.

Continuous 24 h intragastric pH monitoring is increasingly recommended for deciding which is the most appropriate regimen and dosage of new gastric antisecretory drugs. In order to assess its reproducibility, we have repeated the test twice on consecutive days in six patients with endoscopically proven duodenal ulcers because this type of patient seems to be the most suitable for studies on the efficacy of the above mentioned therapy. No patient received medication during the two examination days. Our data showed there was no significant difference (t = 0.31, p = 0.76) between the 24 h areas under the curve of pH profiles of the first day compared with those of the second (mean +/- SD : 3.152 +/- 681 vs 3.073 +/- 1,122). The lack of significant difference (p = 0.20) between the mean times elapsed at the various pH levels during the first and second days was further proof of the reproducibility of the method. As wells these results suggest that day-to-day reproducibility of the technique is good in duodenal ulcer patients. Therefore, its repeated use on the same patient to investigate the effects of various drugs and their different dosages on gastric acidity appears to be reliable.