Air column in esophagus and symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease

BMC Medical Imaging

Research Article

Hanieh Raji¹  Alijavad Moosavi²  Shadi Ghourchian³  Mojtaba Teimoori⁴ 

[1] Department of pulmonary diseases, Jundishopur University of Medical Sciences, Golestan boulevard, Ahvaz, Iran;Department of pulmonary diseases, Rasoul-e-Akram Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Sattakhan street, (1445613131), Tehran, Iran;Medical student, Scientific students' research center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, DDRI of Rasoul hospital, Sattakhan street, (1445613131), Tehran, Iran;Nephrology and Urology Research Center, Medical Faculty, Baqyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Mollasadra street, Tehran, Iran;

关键词: Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease;    chest computed tomography;    radiographic anatomy;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2342-12-2

 received in 2011-05-25, accepted in 2012-01-25,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDuring imaging of the normal esophagus, air is often detected. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between the appearance of air bubbles on imaging and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) symptoms.MethodsThe cross-sectional imaging study was conducted at Rasole Akram Hospital, Tehran, Iran. A total of 44 patients underwent X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning; the presence of air in the esophagus and visible on CT imaging was scrutinized.ResultsThe average age of the subjects was 59 and the male to female ratio was 0.83. We found a significant relationship between the presence of GERD symptoms, the size of air bubbles and esophageal dilation (ED) on the CT scan.ConclusionsAir bubbles in the esophagus may be seen frequently in CT scans, but their size and location can vary. The GERD symptoms can arise when a small diameter air column is present within the esophagus, especially in the middle and lower parts.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Moosavi et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.