Testing and Diagnosis for GERD
Typically a diagnosis for GERD is made strictly on your symptoms. However in more severe cases, or just to confirm that you do indeed have GERD there are several tests that your doctor can do to not only rule out other medical problems, but to ensure you that you have GERD so that it can be treated properly.
The first test is a simple examination of the throat and larynx. If you have symptoms of a cough, or sore throat it could be a sign that you have GERD. An x-ray can also be taken of your esophagus after a patient swallows barium which is a contrasting material that allows a clearer x-ray of your esophagus. These x-rays are taken with the patient lying in different positions so that the movement of the contrasting material can be seen. Therefore, a doctor can tell immediately if there is a weak muscle wall that allows the acid to travel back up the esophagus.
The next step might be an endoscopy which is an optical system that allows for the visualization of the lining of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum as it travels down the gastrointestinal tract, or the GI tract as it is commonly called. By doing this a doctor can check to see if there is an inflamed esophagus, ulcer, or even cancer that can be caused by GERD. By ruling out other complications they can use this to figure out the best course of treatment.
Commonly thought to be the best way to test and diagnose GERD, the esophageal acid testing is very popular among doctors. This is a test to see the quantity of acid in a person suffering from GERD as compared to a normal person's level of acid. It is a 24 hour test in which a catheter with an acid sensor at its tip is inserted through the nose and positioned in the esophagus. One end travels down to the waist with a recorder attached to it to record every reflux episode in the esophagus over a period of 24 hours. This is considered to be the most reliable test possible which will give your doctor a clear understanding of how mild or how severe your GERD is.
An esophageal motility testing is the ability to determine the working muscles of the esophagus with the use of a catheter. They insert it through your nose and down the throat into the esophagus. It contains a sensor that detects pressure inside of the esophagus. The patient is then ordered to swallow small sips of water which then records the contraction movements that they experience on a tiny recorder that is on one end of the catheter.
Finally, one other test which is performed on only some of the patients suffering from GERD consists of a dilute acid solution to determine whether or not a person's chest pain is due to acid reflux. The solution along with a physiologic salt solution are poured into a catheter and passed through a patient's nostril to the middle of the esophagus. If the patient experiences pain while the acid solution is going down then that means that chest pains are due to acid reflux.