BACKGROUND/AIMS: Ineffective esophageal motility is the most frequent disorder of esophageal peristalsis. Symptoms may include dysphagia, chest pain, and heartburn. Our aims are to evaluate the long-term prognosis and determine if provocative tests during high-resolution esophageal manometry could predict the prognosis.

METHODS

We retrospectively assessed high resolution manometries performed between 2015-2018 in adult patients. Symptoms were evaluated at baseline and at follow-up (median 39 months later) using the impact dysphagia questionnaire (IDQ-10), where a score ≥ 7 defined dysphagia, the gastroesophageal reflux disease questionnaire (GerdQ), where a score ≥ 9 defined symptoms of reflux disease and if the subject had chest pain ≥ once a week. Chicago classifications version 3.0 and 4.0 were used. The contractile reserve was assessed by identifying whether esophageal peristalsis normalized or not on solid bolus swallows and a rapid drink challenge was included.

RESULTS

Nine hundred and eighty investigations performed during the study period; 114 patients (11.6%) were identified with ineffective esophageal motility. The final study cohort consisted of 33 patients of which 42% had dysphagia at follow-up and 25% had chest pain at least once a week, 46% had reflux symptoms. Patients who normalized motility on solid bolus swallows reported less dysphagia upon follow-up ( = 0.012), nevertheless reported similar proportions of chest pain ( = 0.632), and reflux ( = 0.514). There were no associations between having dysphagia, chest pain, or reflux at follow-up, and abnormal findings on the rapid drink challenge ( > 0.05 for all).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with ineffective esophageal motility continue to experience long-term esophageal symptoms at follow-up. Provocative tests seem to have the potential to partly predict the long-term prognosis of dysphagia.