Esophageal Dysfunction and Radionuclide Transit in Progressive Systemic Sclerosis

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Abstract
Sixty patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) were studied by radionuclide esophageal transit (RT) and esophageal cineradiography. Fifty-two patients (87%) had abnormal RT with prolonged transit time and 28 (47%) had stagnation of radionuclide. RT was positively correlated to duration of disease (p < 0.01). A positive correlation between transit time an the presence of dysphagia was observed. Reduced esophageal motility evaluated by cineradiography was observed in 44 patients (73%). In patients with moderate-severe esophageal dysfunction there was a positive association between prolonged RT and hypomotility at the radiological examination (p = 0.001). RT is a safe and non-invasive method which is more sensitive than cineradiography and might be used as a screening test to evaluate esophageal involvement in patients with PSS.