Radionuclide esophageal transit test in the detection of esophageal dysmotility in Parkinson's disease.

Thirty-three patients of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) and 25 volunteers were admitted to the study for comparison. Esophageal motility including esophageal mean transit time (MTT), residual fraction (RF), and retrograde index (RI) of the two groups were evaluated and calculated by the radionuclide esophageal transit test. The results show that 12% (4/33) of the cases of PD were abnormal in proximal, 15% (5/33) in middle, 0% (0/33) in distal, and 12% (4/33) in total MTT, as well as 6% (2/33) in RF, and 24% (8/33) in RI. In addition, the patients with high H-Y scale scores had a higher incidence of abnormality in proximal MTT than those with low scale (P < 0.05 by a Fisher's exact test). We consider that the radionuclide esophageal transit test has potential as an effective, simple and noninvasive screening tool to detect abnormal esophageal motility in patients suffering from Parkinson's disease.