Acidic stomach contents that end up in the throat produce the sensation of heartburn, or acid stomach – but not always. The sensation can also be caused by non-acidic stomach contents coming back up and even by just belching up air. Because of this, acid suppressants that make the stomach contents less acidic do not provide relief for all patients who suffer from heartburn. This was discovered by Arjan Bredenoord – in training to become a gastroenterologist – while he was doing his doctoral research at UMC Utrecht.
Bredenoord made his discovery by measuring the electrical resistance of the esophagus in patients who suffer from acid reflux. This method can measure the movement of air and fluids in the esophagus, and because of this goes beyond the traditional method of determining the pH value of the esophagus. It turned out that around 15 percent of “acidic” belching was not acidic at all.
Among the population as a whole, 10 to 20 percent regularly suffers from heartburn. Some of those people in this group use relatively expensive acid suppressants, even though these do not provide all of them with relief. A small number of these patients could be helped by an operation that makes it more difficult for the stomach contents to reach the esophagus.
For more information, please contact:
UMC Utrecht, Internal and External Communication
Linda Minnen or Annette Aarts, tel.: +31 (0)88 75 574 83