The role of single and double-contrast radiography in the diagnosis of reflux esophagitis.

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Patients (67) with endoscopically proved esophagitis and 25 patients who had no esophageal disease were examined by double-contrast esophagography, followed by a single-contrast examination. The radiographs were evaluated separately and as a combined examination technique by 3 independent radiologists in a blind analysis. The respective sensitivities were 77% for the single-contrast examination, 80% for the double-contrast examination and 88% for the combined examination method with no significant statistical difference (P = 0.05). The sensitivity increased for all methods with an increased severity of esophagitis. False positives more frequently occurred with double-contrast radiography, leading to similar accuracy rates for all methods (74 to 77%). The double-contrast examination technique showed an advantage over single-contrast radiography only if a granular pattern and erosions were the only radiographically detectable features of esophagitis. The use of the combined examination technique is recommended.

This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit: