Multichannel Intraluminal Impedance and pH Monitoring are Complementary Methods in the Diagnosis of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Children

Objective: Gastroesophageal reflux is considered to be a disease when reflux of gastric contents causes troublesome symptoms in infants and children. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic value of the multichannel intraluminal impedance monitoring and only pH monitoring in the diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease in infants and children. Materials and Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study consisted of pediatric patients aged between 1 month and 18 years old with symptoms suggestive of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Patients were divided into 2 groups as younger than 24 months (group 1) and older than 24 months (group 2). Twenty-four hours multichannel intraluminal impedance-pH monitoring was performed on the patients. Results: This study included 50 pediatric patients. The mean age of the patients was 5.35 ± 4.92 years. In group 1, total reflux events were fewer than group 2 (P = .03) by pH monitoring. In group 1, the number of non-acid reflux events was higher than in group 2 and in group 2, the number of acidic reflux events was higher than group 1 (P = .04). Reflux was detected by multichannel intraluminal impedance-pH monitoring in 13 (40%) of 32 patients who were assessed as negative by pH monitoring. Conclusion: It was concluded that more reliable results were obtained when the 2 methods were used together in this study.