The diagnosis of esophagitis in surgical patients

1. 1. The esophageal acid perfusion test was performed in forty-five patients with peptic disease to study its effectiveness in diagnosing active esophagitis. 2. 2. In a group of twenty-eight nonoperated patients with upper gastrointestinal symptoms, sixteen were shown to have a positive test result consistent with esophagitis. Conclusions were drawn with the presence of hiatal hernia and peptic ulcer. 3. 3. In seventeen patients who had been subjected to previous surgery for upper gastrointestinal complaints, the acid perfusion test gave positive results in nine. Most of these patients had had vagotomy, pyloroplasty, and hiatal hernia repair. All of the patients who had a negative acid perfusion test result had been previously treated with gastric resection. 4. 4. We found the acid perfusion test easy to perform, convenient, harmless, and reliable in its capacity to identify and reproduce the symptoms of esophagitis, even when they are atypical. We believe the test can be of great use in patients with complex symptoms of peptic disease.