Dynamic esophageal scintigraphy in patients with achalasia.

Background: Dynamic esophageal scintigraphy has been proven as an efficient technique of diagnosis of esophageal dysmotility.
Methods: The authors monitored the transit velocity, anti-peristalsis and the retention of radioactivity in the esophagus by dynamic esophageal scintigraphy in a group of 50 patients (37 control patients and 13 patients with achalasia).
Results: They found a significantly longer period of radioactivity passage via the esophagus compared to the control group (p < 0.001%).
Conclusions: We observed the statistically significant transit prolongation of radioactivity through the esophagus during dynamic esophageal scintigraphy (41.2 seconds) in our group of patients with achalasia compared to the control group (7.9 seconds). Anti-peristalsis and even the radioactivity retention have occurred statistically more frequently compared to the control group.