1 Sep 2023Article
Evaluation of Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), as a possible cause of Eustachian tube dysfunction in adults.
Luigi Sivero 1Alessia Sivero 1Rosa Maione 1Nicola Gennarelli 1Stefania Sivero 2Saverio Siciliano 1
Affiliations
Article Info
1 Department of General Surgery, Transplantation and Gastroenterology, Federico II University Hospital of Naples, Naples, Italy
2 Head-Neck Department, Federico II University Hospital of Naples, Naples, Italy
Ann. Ital. Chir., 2023, 94(5), 443-447;
Published: 1 Sep 2023
Copyright © 2023 Annali Italiani di Chirurgia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
BACKDOWN: In this study, the authors, each for their own skills, on the basis of clinical, psychological, endoscopic investigations, evaluated the probable relationship between the laryngopharyngeal reflux present in gastroesophageal reflux disease, and the dysfunction of the Eustachian tube. At the end of the study, after a phase of medical therapy for GERD, they found that laryngopharyngeal acid reflux was in fact the basis of audiological symptoms and chronic dysfunction of the Eustachian tube. METHODS: We evaluated with a digestive endoscopy 60 patients with symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux, who had associated pathologies of ENT relevance, probably caused by extraesophageal reflux. Following audiometric evaluations, 40 patients treated with drug therapy for reflux were selected. RESULTS: Based on clinical, psychological, endoscopic investigations, and after medical therapy, acid reflux has been shown to underlie audiological symptoms and chronic dysfunction of the Eustachian tube. CONCLUSION: Although limited to a small number of patients, the results obtained with our study, supported by various clinical studies in the literature, confirm the hypothesis that acid reflux may underlie audiological symptoms and therefore involved in the genesis and chronic dysfunction of Eustachian tube.
Keywords
- Dysfunction of the Eustachian tube
- Esophagogastroduodenoscopy
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease
- Laryngopharyngeal reflux