Transmitted cardiovascular pulsations on high resolution esophageal impedance manometry, and their significance in dysphagia

Table 1 Demographic and morphologic characteristics of transmitted cardiovascular pulsations, or pulsatile pressure zones, on High Resolution Esophageal Impedance Manometry n (%)

Variable		Dysphagia (n = 50)	No dysphagia (n = 38)	P value
Age, yr	mean ± SD	67.3 ± 14.9	31.2 ± 12.2	< 0.0001
	Median (min, max)	70 (24, 89)	27 (19, 61)
Gender	Male	14 (28)	18 (47)	0.097
	Female	36 (72)	20 (53)
Number of pulsatile zones	Total (% prevalence overall)	70 (56.4)	54 (64.4)	-
	Average per patient	1.4	1.4	-
Location of pulsatile zone in esophagus	Upper third	12 (17)	7 (13)	0.769
	Middle third	24 (34)	21 (39)
	Lower third	34 (49)	26 (48)
Axial length of pulsatile zone (cm)	mean ± SD	2.2 ± 1.4	2.4 ± 1.2	0.258
	Median (min, max)	2 (0.5, 6)	2 (0.5, 5)
	Avg upper third (min, max)	1 (0.5-2)	1 (0.5-2)
	Avg middle third (min, max)	0.7 (0.5-2.5)	2.2 (0.5-4)
	Avg lower third (min, max)	3.3 (0.5-6)	2.3 (1.5-5)
PPZ	mean ± SD	10.8 ± 9.7	15.7 ± 10.0	< 0.01
Pressure (mmHg)	Median (min, max)	10 (0, 35)	17 (0, 45)
	Avg upper third	9.8	16.7
	Avg middle third	5.9	13.3
	Avg lower third	14.3	16.9
Dominant posture for pulsatile zone	Supine	21 (30)	10 (18.5)	0.282
	Upright	10 (14.3)	6 (11.1)
	Both postures	39 (55.7)	38 (70.4)

This table shows a comparison between patients with dysphagia (cases) and without dysphagia (controls).