The evaluation of the foregut, the esophagus and stomach, has come a long way over the past two decades, and continues to experience exciting discoveries in the clinical evaluation of foregut physiology. Assessing esophageal peristalsis has relied for the past several decades on High Resolution Manometry (HRM), however it has recently become known that even though HRM is an extremely effective tool, that there are certain subsets of patients in which additional information is required. Additionally, the assessment of esophageal reflux disease has relied on pH impedance for the last two decades. However, this procedure requires a catheter to be passed through a nostril and remain in place for at least 24 hours. Novel techniques, already FDA approved, including EndoFLIP for esophageal peristalsis and mucosal integrity (MI) for reflux disease, have emerged as time-of-endoscopy assessments. Both involve the placement of a balloon through the scope at time of upper endoscopy (standard first line assessment for both dysphagia and reflux symptoms) and are quick and pose little-to-no additional risk or discomfort for patients. However, data regarding normal esophageal parameters are poorly defined for both EndoFLIP and MI. Additionally, EndoFLIP has increasingly been used to assess the pylorus, and scarce data exists there regarding how a tool originally envisioned for esophageal assessment can be used more distally in the GI tract. We will recruit healthy, asymptomatic volunteers to undergo testing with MI and FLIP (esophageal and pyloric). The data obtained will help establish the benchmark from which assessments can be made in patients.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
40
Healthy subjects will undergo esophageal and blood testing.
Norton Healthcare
Louisville, Kentucky, United States
RECRUITINGNormative mucosal integrity values
We will establish the range of MI values in healthy, asymptomatic individuals.
Time frame: 1 year
Normative pyloric FLIP values
We will further establish the range of FLIP values that can be seen in healthy, asymptomatic individuals.
Time frame: 1 year
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