The added value of impedance-pH monitoring to Rome III criteria in distinguishing functional heartburn from non-erosive reflux disease

Abstract Introduction Functional heartburn is defined by Rome III criteria as an endoscopy-negative condition with normal oesophageal acid exposure time, negative symptom association to acid reflux and unsatisfactory response to proton pump inhibitors. These criteria underestimated the role of non-acid reflux. Aim To assess the contribution of impedance-pH with symptom association probability (SAP) analysis in identifying endoscopy-negative patients with reflux disease and separating them from functional heartburn. Methods Consecutive endoscopy-negative patients treated with proton pump inhibitors ( n = 219) undergoing impedance-pH monitoring off-therapy were analysed. Distal acid exposure time, reflux episodes, SAP and symptomatic response to proton pump inhibitors were measured. Results Based on impedance-pH/SAP, 67 (31%) patients were pH+/SAP+, 6 (2%) pH+/SAP−, 83 (38%) hypersensitive oesophagus and 63 (29%) functional heartburn. According to pH-metry alone/response to proton pump inhibitors, 62 (28%) were pH+/SAP+, 11 (5%) pH+/SAP−, 61 (28%) hypersensitive oesophagus and 85 (39%) functional heartburn. In the normal-acid exposure population the contribution of impedance-pH/SAP compared to pH-metry alone/response to proton pump inhibitors in identifying patients with reflux disease and functional heartburn resulted to be 10%. In patients with abnormal-acid exposure, the contribution of impedance-pH/SAP increased by 3%. Conclusion Comparing impedance-pH testing with pH-metry alone plus the response to proton pump inhibitor therapy demonstrated that the latter ones cause underestimation of reflux disease patients and overestimation of functional heartburn patients.