• Hippokratia · Jul 2007

    Is pepsin detected in the saliva of patients who experience pharyngeal reflux?

    • A Printza, M Speletas, S Triaridis, and J Wilson.
    • 2nd Otolaryngology Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Papageorgiou Hospital, Greece. nan@med.auth.gr
    • Hippokratia. 2007 Jul 1; 11 (3): 145149145-9.

    ObjectivesTo investigate if pepsin is detected, with an activity assay, in the saliva of patients with a clinical diagnosis of laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) and can therefore be used as a diagnostic marker of laryngopharyngeal reflux.Study DesignPilot, prospective study.MethodsAdult participants with a clinical diagnosis of LPR collected whole saliva samples on regular intervals for a day, and upon experiencing symptoms attributed to LPR. Patients were selected on the basis of presence of severe symptoms and laryngoscopic findings of laryngopharyngeal reflux and symptoms of gastroesopharyngeal reflux. They reported voice disorders, dysphagia, throat clearing, excessive secretions, breathing difficulties, cough, globus sensation and throat pain. Control participants reported the absence of pharyngeal and laryngeal symptoms and of symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux. Saliva samples were assayed with fibrinogen on an agarose gel plate. The detection of pepsin was based on the presence of peptic activity which was qualitatively evaluated.ResultsThe control participants had negative assays. No saliva samples from the LPR patients, collected at regular sampling, tested positive for pepsin. All the samples collected at the presence of symptoms and following regurgitation episodes tested negative for pepsin. Saliva samples pH ranged from 7 to 8.ConclusionsPepsin was not detected, with an activity assay, in the saliva of patients with a clinical diagnosis of LPR. A concentration method might be more sensitive although saliva and swallowing physiology renders the detection of pepsin in the saliva difficult.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…