Objective: To evaluate the esophageal morphological parameters and occurrence of refluxate using transcutaneous esophageal ultrasonography [US] in children with suspected gastroesophageal reflux disease [GERD].

Materials and Methods: Twenty-two children with suspected GERD and 23 healthy controls were enrolled during November 2015 to January 2017. GERD was defined as reflux index and/ or liquid refluxate evaluated by multichannel intraluminal impedance-pH (MII-pH) monitoring greater than the 95th percentile of age-specific values. All subjects underwent transcutaneous esophageal US to assess the occurrence of refluxate and the esophageal morphology.

Results: Median age of patients (50% male) and controls (57% male) were 1.6 years (interquartile range 0.6 to 5 years) and 1.7 years (interquartile range 0.5 to 7.5 years), respectively. GERD symptoms were divided into esophageal (n = 11) and extraesophageal (n = 11) manifestations. Occurrence of refluxate and esophageal morphological parameters detected by transcutaneous esophageal US were not different between study and control groups. However, study group tended to have shorter abdominal esophageal length compared with controls (16.8+4.3 mm vs. 18.2+6.5 mm). Study group with GERD confirmed by MII-pH monitoring (n = 6) tended to have higher cervical/ abdominal esophageal wall thickness and diameter, and degree of gastroesophageal angle than those with normal MII-pH monitoring (n = 16), however the differences were not statistically significant. The number of occurrence of refluxate identified by transesophageal US was not significantly different between study group with and without abnormal refluxate detected by MII-pH monitoring.

Conclusion: The number of occurrence of refluxate and esophageal morphology evaluated by transcutaneous esophageal US do not correlate well with the MII-pH monitoring results.

Keywords: Children, Combined multichannel intraluminal impedance-pH monitoring, Gastroesophageal reflux disease, Transcutaneous esophageal ultrasonography