Mucosal Integrity Testing, A Novel Technology, Correlates With Epithelial Barrier Function And Predicts Presence Of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Disruption of epithelial barrier function (EBF) is a key pathophysiologic mechanism underlying gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) including erosive reflux disease (ERD), non-erosive reflux disease (NERD) and Barrett’s esophagus (BE). Esophageal pH testing is time consuming, burdensome, and inconvenient. Mucosal Integrity Testing (MIT) is a novel technology that rapidly measures esophageal epithelial conductivity in real-time during upper endoscopy (EGD). MIT has been proposed as a marker for chronic GERD, but its correlation with EBF has not been examined.