New and Improved Methods for Esophageal Function Testing

Dysphagia, refractory heartburn, reflux, chest pain, and dyspepsia are among the most common upper gastrointestinal complaints that elicit referral to gastroenterologists. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy is usually the first-line test to identify diseases that can be diagnosed by visualization and pathologic studies of endoscopic biopsies. In some cases, however, endoscopy is not diagnostic. Fortunately, in recent years there have been tremendous advances in esophageal function testing, which can provide specific diagnoses to explain symptoms pointing to an esophageal origin. It is obviously very important for gastroenterologists to understand and properly utilize these new and improved tests, increasingly performed by specialists with a focused interest in esophageal diseases.

The editor for this issue of the Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Clinics of North America devoted to esophageal function testing is Dr John Pandolfino, Chief, Division of Medicine-Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr Pandolfino has been in the forefront of the field of esophageal and swallowing disorders and has gathered an extraordinary array of experts who provide a remarkably clear state-of-the-art compilation, with a look into the near future as well. This issue represents a terrific resource not only for specialists in the field (“esophagologists”) but also for clinical gastroenterologists in general and should not be missed.

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