Susceptibility to dysphagia after fundoplication revealed by novel automated impedance manometry analysis

Abstract

Background: Conventional measures of esophageal pressures or bolus transport fail to identify patients at risk of dysphagia after laparoscopic fundoplication.

Methods: Liquid and viscous swallows were evaluated with impedance/manometry in 19 patients with reflux disease before and after surgery. A new method of automated impedance manometry (AIM) analysis correlated esophageal pressure with impedance data and automatically calculated a range of pressure and bolus movement variables. An iterative analysis determined whether any variables were altered in relation to dysphagia. Standard measures of esophago-gastric junction pressure, bolus presence time, and total bolus transit time were also evaluated.

Key results: At 5 months postop, 15 patients reported some dysphagia, including 7 with new-onset dysphagia. For viscous boluses, three AIM-derived pressure-flow variables recorded preoperatively varied significantly in relation to postoperative dysphagia. These were: time from nadir esophageal impedance to peak esophageal pressure (TNadImp-PeakP), median intra-bolus pressure (IBP, mmHg), and the rate of bolus pressure rise (IBP slope, mmHgs(-1) ). These variables were combined to form a dysphagia risk index (DRI=IBP×IBP_slope/TNadImp-PeakP). DRI values derived from preoperative measurements were significantly elevated in those with postoperative dysphagia (DRI=58, IQR=21-408 vs no dysphagia DRI=9, IQR=2-19, P<0.02). A DRI >14 was optimally predictive of dysphagia (sensitivity 75% and specificity 93%).

Conclusions & inferences: Before surgery, a greater and faster compression of a swallowed viscous bolus with less bolus flow time relates to postoperative dysphagia. Thus, susceptibility to postfundoplication dysphagia is related to a pre-existing sub-clinical variation of esophageal function.