Improvement in esophageal motor dysfunction with treatment of reflux esophagitis: a report of two cases.

We report two patients with reflux esophagitis who had decreased lower esophageal sphincter pressures and marked decreased frequency of peristaltic response to swallowing and peristaltic amplitude on pretreatment esophageal motility tracings. Both patients responded to medical therapy of reflux esophagitis with symptomatic clinical improvement, increased lower esophageal sphincter pressures, and increased frequency of peristaltic propagation and amplitude of peristalsis. Measures to treat reflux esophagitis may be effective in some cases, in part, because they permit healing of esophageal inflammation to improve esophageal motor activity, the latter which results in improvement of esophageal acid clearing.