Has anyone had a Manometry or PH Monitoring test for esophagus before? Is it very uncomfortable? How went it?

Answer 1

I'm a laparoscopic surgeon and I perform anti-reflux surgery as well as esophageal function testing. I myself have had manometry (as a medical student) in order to be part of a baseline in someone's study.

Manometry takes about half an hour, more or less. It involves a thin flexible tube, inserted through the nose, which drops down the esophagus and collects pressure measurements inside. For some of the study, you just lay there and for some of it, you sip small gulps of water. The initial insertion of the catheter is the annoying part. I wouldn't describe my experience as painful, but my eyes watered when they put the tip of the probe in my nose, and I could feel it in the back of my throat when it entered my esophagus. For a moment at that point, I coughed and gagged, and then it passed. Once it had been there a few moments, the rest was quite easy.

The most common 24 hour ambulatory pH system involves a very thin wire with a detector on the end. Like the manometry probe, this is also inserted through the nose, but this one, instead, is left in place overnight - taped to the cheek, wrapping over the ear, and then connecting to a belt-clipped device the size of a walkman stereo. Insertion of the pH probe is easier and better tolerated than the manometric probe. However, there's the issue of the wire taped to the face that people don't care for.

I now use something called the "Bravo Probe" which is a device manufactured by Medtronics. The probe is positioned to the same location, but its wireless and uses a radio signal to send data to the recorder (which still needs to be kept close by). The advantages include being able to gather 48 hours of data instead of just 24, and people don't complain about the wire. The disadvantage is that I have to place it by mouth instead of nose, and it's slightly a bigger deal to do (I have to do it myself, instead of the nursing staff doing it for me). Patients tell me that they occassionally feel the probe inside their esophagus during the next two days and it feels like a pill that won't go down (which is exactly what it is! - it's a disposable pill shaped device that captures a pinch of the esophagus lining and holds on for 2 days before falling off). All in all, I really like having 2 days worth of data, and my patients appear to complain less about this probe than the wire taped to their faces.

Answer 2

I've had it done a few times. Yes, uncomfortable but it's needed and you just have to be tough.

Answer 3

yes it is