Differential diagnosis of reflux disease is key to directing appropriate treatment, including selecting the right therapies and making the appropriate lifestyle changes.
Reflux is a condition that GPs see daily, but the root cause of patients’ symptoms is not always clear and only fully investigated if symptoms persist or are severe. Differential diagnosis of reflux disease is, however, key to directing appropriate treatment, including selecting the right therapies and making the appropriate lifestyle changes.
Current diagnostic pathways rely on timeconsuming, invasive and costly imaging techniques, but a simple lateral flow test that measures pepsin in saliva samples is now providing faster, non-invasive results at a fraction of the cost of traditional options. A recent multi-centre trial involving over a thousand patients with suspected laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) in five UK voice clinics has demonstrated that the test is capable of diagnosing LPR with an overall sensitivity of 76.4 % and specificity of 100%. This article looks at the development of the test and gives clinicians’ perspectives on the potential use of pepsin testing as a tool for rapid diagnostics and monitoring the effectiveness of treatments for LPR.
What is reflux?
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