The test helps diagnose
- Cause for swallowing problems
- Achalasia cardia
- Non cardiac chest pain
- Diffuse oesophageal spasm
- Nutcracker oesophagus
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
When you swallow, muscles in your oesophagus contract to help push food towards your stomach. Valves, or sphincters, inside the oesophagus open to let food and liquid through, and then close to prevent food, fluids, and gastric acid from moving backward. The sphincter at the bottom of the oesophagus is called the lower oesophageal sphincter or LES.
The purpose of oesophageal manometry is to see if the oesophagus is contracting and relaxing properly.
During oesophageal manometry, a thin, pressure-sensitive tube is passed through your mouth or nose and into your stomach. Once in place, the tube is pulled slowly back into your oesophagus. When the tube is in your oesophagus, you will be asked to swallow. The pressure of the muscle contractions will be measured along several sections of the tube.
