ABSTRACT:
Background/Objectives: The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate factors affecting the diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) using transabdominal ultrasound. Methods/Statistical analysis: The patient group comprised of 18 adults with upper endoscopy results of Los Angeles (LA)-classifications A or above, while the control group included of 68 adults with normal upper endoscopy. The ultrasonography was used to measure the subdiaphragmatic esophageal length, gastroesophageal angle (His angle) and real-time ultrasonography at the moment of reflux. Findings: The subdiaphragmatic esophageal length was 29.2±3.6 ? in the control group, and 22.7±3.2 ? in the patient group. The results showed statistically significant difference between the two groups. The cut-off value for the subdiaphragmatic esophageal length was 25.1 ?. Sensitivity and specificity were 88.9% and 86.9% respectively. The gastroesophageal angle measured 121.9±12.3° in the control group and 141.5±8.8° in the patient group. The cut-off value of 134.6° showed a sensitivity of 83.3% and specificity of 83.8%. There were statistically significant differences (p = 0.001) during real-time ultrasonography with reflux in 77.8% of the patient group and 10.3% in the control group. The real-time ultrasonography showed a sensitivity of 77.8%, specificity of 89.7%, positive predictive value of 66.7% and negative predictive value 93.8%. Improvements/Applications: This study suggests that the transabdominal ultrasound used in measuring the subdiaphragmatic part of the esophageal length, His angle and real-time ultrasonography to be good predictive factors in diagnosing GER disease. Therefore, a medical examination with a noninvasive procedure such as transabdominal ultrasound may be a useful procedure in predicting gastroesophageal disorders.