A nuclear medicine imaging test was used to confirm that children with respiratory problems may be more likely to develop gastroesophageal reflux disease, according to researchers at Society of Nuclear Medicine's 55th Annual Meeting.
The nuclear imaging technique, known as scintigraphy, was also shown to be more effective in detecting the disease in these children than traditional barium X-ray technology. The results indicate that scintigraphy could become an important diagnostic tool for detecting reflux disease, a serious condition that can lead to chronic chest pain, vomiting, weight loss and lung impairment in children who suffer from it.
"Unfortunately, reflux disease is a common problem in children, especially for those with respiratory problems," said Wajiha Nasir, a researcher at the Nuclear Medicine Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (NORI), Islamabad, Pakistan. "If left untreated, the disease can seriously impede children's health, growth and development, not to mention their quality of life. Our results show that scintigraphy is highly effective at safely diagnosing the condition."
Reflux disease occurs when the esophagus becomes irritated or inflamed by stomach contents. The stomach produces hydrochloric acid after a meal to aid in the digestion of food. Normally, a ring of muscle at the bottom of the esophagus, called the lower esophageal sphincter, prevents the acid from going back up the esophagus. With reflux disease, however, the sphincter relaxes between swallows, allowing stomach contents and corrosive acid to well up and damage the lining of the esophagus.
The chronic condition affects up to a third of adults, and many infants and children also suffer from it. Some of these children outgrow the condition as their digestive systems mature, but many do not. Researchers have long suspected that children who have respiratory problems such as asthma might also be more susceptible to reflux disease.