Salivary Pepsin Test: Useful and Simple Tool for the Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Diagnosis

Publication date: March–April 2018
Source:Acta Otorrinolaringologica (English Edition), Volume 69, Issue 2
Author(s): Luz Barona-Lleó, Claudia Duval, Rafael Barona-de Guzmán
Introduction and objectivesLaryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is a disease characterized by the presence of symptoms, signs and tissue damage caused by retrograde flow of gastric contents to the upper aerodigestive tract. It represents up to 10% of otolaryngology consultations.The aim of the study is to describe the findings obtained by applying the salivary pepsin test (PEP-test) in a sample of patients with the clinical suspicion of LPR.Material and methodsOur descriptive clinical study included 142 subjects with symptoms suggestive of LPR and a score above 13 on the RSI scale. The subjects underwent laryngeal endoscopy to rule out other pathologies that could justify the symptoms and the salivary pepsin test (PEP-test). The latter was carried out on fasting subjects and a second test one hour after eating, only on those with negative results.ResultsThe results obtained in the tests performed on the 142 patients included in the study were: 105 (73.94%) presented positive results in some of the salivary pepsin tests and the results of both tests were negative in 37 subjects (26.06%).ConclusionThe salivary pepsin test is a simple, low-cost, non-invasive and easily repeatable tool which could minimize empirical treatments and invasive tests for LPR diagnosis, although further research is needed for its validation.



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