Comparison of Methods for Collecting Saliva for Pepsin Detection in Patients with Laryngopharyngeal Reflux / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To compare the simple spitting method and the Salivette® method of collecting saliva for detecting pepsin in patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD). SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Thirty-two patients diagnosed with LPRD by 24 hour multichannel intraluminal impedance and pH monitoring were enrolled prospectively. The amounts of pepsin in saliva determined by the simple spitting method and the Salivette® method were compared. RESULTS: Simple spitting showed higher sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value. There was no statistically significant difference between the amount of pepsin detected by simple spitting (10.07±11.68 ng/mL) versus that detected using the Salivette® method (7.09±7.27 ng/mL) (p=0.258). CONCLUSIONS: The simple spitting method has higher sensitivity, specificity and accuracy than the Salivette® method for detecting pepsin in patients with LPRD.