[The enhancement of the efficacy of early diagnostics of laryngopharyngeal reflux].

The objective of the present study was to improve early diagnostics of extraoesophageal reflux (EGER) disease encountered in the routine otorhinolaryngological practice. The questionnaire for rapid diagnostics of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERDq), the heartburn severity scoring scale (HBSS), and the reflux symptom index (RSI) were used to estimate the conditions of 91 patients at the age varying from 17 to 72 years meeting the inclusion criteria. The patients were interviewed based on these three scoring systems during the initial consultation and after the test with a proton pipe inhibitor (PPI). The results were used to allocate the patients to two groups one of which was comprised of those with complaints of suffering from heartburn (n=61), the other included the patients free from the heartburn symptoms (n=30). The RSI scores suggested the statistically significant decrease in the symptoms of laryngopharyngeal reflux in the patients of both groups after the test with PPI. The GERD questionnaire was found to be insufficiently informative. It is concluded that the patients complaining of heartburn should be examined first with the help of the heartburn severity scale and then based on RSI. The latter approach should be employed to examine the patients presenting with the clinical symptoms of laryngopharyngeal reflux in the absence of heartburn. The PPI test makes it possible to confirm the presence of laryngopharyngeal reflux and a decrease in its clinical manifestations.