PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - A Spyridoulias
AU  - S Lillie
AU  - A Vyas
AU  - SJ Fowler
TI  - P151 Laryngopharyngeal Pepsin Reflux in Patients with Upper Airway Symptoms
AID  - 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2012-202678.212
DP  - 2012 Dec 01
TA  - Thorax
PG  - A127--A128
VI  - 67
IP  - Suppl 2
4099  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/67/Suppl_2/A127.2.short
4100  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/67/Suppl_2/A127.2.full
SO  - Thorax2012 Dec 01; 67
AB  - Background Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is implicated in inducing laryngeal hyper-responsiveness which is a unifying feature underlying chronic cough and vocal cord dysfunction. A lack of response to standard anti-reflux therapy in patients with LPR may be due to persistence of non-acid-reflux and pepsin causing ongoing laryngeal epithelial inflammation. We investigated: (a) the prevalence of pepsin reflux in respiratory patients requiring nasendoscopy for the investigation of upper airway symptoms; (b) the performance of commonly used clinical LPR-diagnostic tools in predicting the presence of salivary pepsin. Methods Subjects had symptoms and signs of laryngeal inflammation quantified using, the Reflux Symptom Index (RSI) and Reflux Finding Score (RFS). Salivary pepsin was measured with a lateral flow device using monoclonal antibody labelling (Peptest, RDBiomed). Patients with severe signs of laryngeal inflammation were referred for impedance-pH oesophageal studies to assess for objective evidence of reflux. Results Of the 78 subjects recruited, 76% were female, mean age 55 (range 17–82). Ten were undergoing investigation for chronic cough, and 68 for possible vocal cord dysfunction (confirmed in 45). 30 had concomitant asthma, and 42 were prescribed anti-reflux treatment. 87% had a high RSI, and 51% a high RFS. Pepsin was detected in the saliva of 49/78 subjects (63%), and prevalence did not vary significantly between treatment group. There was a weak correlation between the RFS and pepsin concentration (r=0.28, p=0.01) and the positive and negative predictive values for pepsin detection for those with a high RFS were 63% and 69% respectively. To date all 8 patients tested have had significant proximal reflux on impedance study, of which 6 had a positive pepsin assay. Conclusion Salivary pepsin was frequently present in patients with upper airway symptoms, but only weakly related to clinical findings of reflux, suggesting a high prevalence of LPR that is not associated with typical laryngeal findings. The significance of such sub-clinical reflux remains to be seen however the use of pepsin assay in patients with upper airway symptoms may be most valuable in directing diagnosis in milder cases where symptoms and signs lack specificity and the condition may otherwise be missed.