Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a chronic digestive disease. GERD occurs when stomach acid or, occasionally, stomach content, flows back into your food pipe (esophagus).
Both acid reflux and heartburn are common digestive conditions that many people experience from time to time. When these signs and symptoms occur at least twice each week or interfere with your daily life, or when your doctor can see damage to your esophagus, you may be diagnosed with GERD.
Because GERD and other esophageal conditions can be hard to diagnose from symptoms alone, reflux monitoring may be a good way to evaluate these symptoms. By identifying the frequency and duration of reflux, doctors can decide on a treatment option for a patient’s symptoms.
Capsule-based Bravo pH monitoring or catheter-based Digitrapper pH-Z monitoring can be used to collect data which can determine the frequency and duration of reflux. Each device offers specific benefits for collecting valuable information for correlating symptoms to reflux.