Comparison of acid pockets of non-erosive reflux disease and reflux esophagitis and the assessment of the relationship between them

Objective This study compared the acid pockets of non-erosive reflux disease(NERD)and reflux esophagitis(RE)and assessed the relationship between them.Methods Fifteen healthy volunteers and 59 GERD patients were enrolled, who were divided into NERD and RE depending on whether they have esophageal mucosa damage.Then the subjects undertook esophageal manometry and ambulatory 24 h dual-probe pH monitoring to detect the acid pocket and the esophageal acid exposure.Further partition of the subjects was based on the results of the 24 h esophageal pH testing,NERD patients with negative abnormal acid reflux(n-NERD),NERD patients with positive abnormal acid reflux(p-NERD),RE patients with negative abnormal acid reflux(n-RE),and RE patients with positive abnormal acid reflux(p-RE).After that,the acid pockets were analyzed.Results There was no statistical significance in the incidence of acid pockets among all the subgroups.The acid pockets of n-NERD patients persisted shortest,and there was statistical differences between the persisted time of n-NERD patients and that of n-RE and p-RE(P0.05).Compared with RE,the acid pockets of n-NERD emerged later,persisted shorter and the average pH value of the acid pocket was higher(P0.05).The average pH value of the acid pocket of p-NERD was higher than that of RE(P0.05).Conclusions The acid pockets of n-NERD and p-NERD are different.And there are more similarities between p-NERD and RE,which tends to show that p-NERD is mucosa pre-injury condition of RE.