Differences in response of the proximal esophagus to wet swallows in patients of Chagas'' disease and idiopathic achalasia

Chagas' disease and idiopathic achalasia have similar esophageal manifestations such as absent or incomplete lower esophageal sphincter relaxation and aperistalsis in the esophageal body (alterations seen mainly in the distal esophageal body). Our aim in this paper was to study the response of the proximal esophageal body to wet swallows in patients with Chagas' disease and patients with idiopathic achalasia. We retrospectively analyzed the time interval between the onset of the pharyngeal contractions 1 cm proximal to the upper esophageal sphincter, as well as 5 cm distal to the pharyngeal measurement. Amplitude, duration and area under the curve of contractions in the proximal esophagus were also determined in 42 patients with Chagas' disease (15 with associated esophageal dilatation), 21 patients with idiopathic achalasia (14 with concomitant esophageal dilatation) and 31 control subjects. The time between the onset of pharyngeal and proximal esophageal contractions was longer in patients with Chagas' disease and in those with esophageal dilatation (1.39 +/- 0.16 s) than in control subjects (0.86 +/- 0.04 s, P < 0.01). The amplitude of proximal esophageal contractions was lower in patients with idiopathic achalasia and esophageal dilatation (60.9 +/- 16.3 mmHg) than in control subjects (89.7 +/- 6.9 mmHg, P = 0.06). The authors conclude that in patients with advanced esophageal disease, the proximal esophageal contractions in Chagas' disease have a delayed response to wet swallows when compared with controls, and that the amplitude of proximal esophageal contractions was lower than expected in patients with idiopathic achalasia.