Esophageal ph-metry in dogs

Abstract

Esophageal pHmetry evaluation is a sensitive and specific method to detect gastroesophageal
reflux, as weel as its frequency, duration, and origin. Gastroesophageal reflux content can be
originated from stomach, duodenal or both, showing unique features of acid-base values and
different severity degrees. The aim of this study was to stablish esophageal pH values in
anesthetized dogs, and to evaluate the occurrence of gastroesophageal reflux episodes during
surgical intervention. Were used 9 female and male healthy dogs, with mean body weight of
15.0 ±5.4 kg. Esophageal pHmetry was performed throght the insertion of a catheter on the
nasopharinx in 9 dogs anesthetized with ketamine, midazolam, methadone, propofol e
isoflurane, subject to mastectomy, orchiectomy and elective ovariosalpingohysterectomy. Of
all 9 dogs in which the catheter was applied, only one animal, subject to
ovariosalpingohysterectomy, has shown a gastroesophageal reflux episode, proved by
esofagoscopy. pHmetry was performed until 180 minutes post-anesthesia, without
significative changes on pH mesurement (P<0.05) at all times. The animals had follow ups
until 30 days of post-operative with no clinical signs of esophagitis. The mean pH
measurement was 6.222 ± 0.5245.