Abstract

REMES-TROCHE, José María  and  AZAMAR-JACOME, Amyra Ali. laringitis por reflujo: Mito o realidad?. Gen [online]. 2010, vol.64, n.2, pp.124-131. ISSN 0016-3503.

Gastro-esophageal refl ux disease (GERD) is a frequent gastrointestinal disorder that has became one of the most common conditions presenting in general and gastroenterology practice. Recently, it has been described that GERD may have otolaryngological manifestations such as laryngitis, chronic cough, odynophagia, posterior nasal drip and asthma. Several patophysiological mechanisms have been described, but abnormal acid exposure is the most important. However, there is evidence that other substances can damage laryngeal structures, such as pepsin, mucus and duodenal content). Laryngeal GERD is diagnosed by using specifi c questionnaires, or by the presence of laryngeal signs in the laryngoscopy or by the detection of abnormal acid exposure using a dual ambulatory pH monitoring. Suppressive acid secretion drugs (specifi cally PPI´s) represent the gold standard therapy when laryngeal symptoms are related to GERD. However, the evidence regarding the effectiveness of PPI´s in laryngeal GERD are controversial. In this review, we analyze the most relevant issues regarding the pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of laryngeal GERD