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Miller Children’s Hospital uses the Bravo Implantable pH Probe to do the world’s only catheter-free intraesophageal pH probe test. The test uses a probe to measure the pH (acidity) levels in the esophagus. These measurements allow the doctor to evaluate the patient’s heartburn and acid reflux symptoms and plan the best treatment for the patient’s diagnosis.
The Bravo System has the potential to provide a more accurate picture of acid exposure compared to data collected using catheter-based systems. Another positive aspect of this leading test is the patient is allowed to do normal activities during the pH test, and doesn’t have to go through the discomfort of having a catheter put in.
- The probe is at the end of a thin tube which is passed through one side of the nose, swallowed and is moved to a given location in the bottom of the esophagus.
- The patient then goes home and the Bravo Receiver takes continuous pH measurements and transmits information wirelessly to a small receiver the patient wears on his or her waistband. The number of GE reflux (backwashing of acid into the esophagus) episodes and length of each episode is recorded by the device attached to the probe.
- Most importantly, the catheter-free test allows the patient to engage in his or her normal activities. Patients can eat normally and engage in their normal activities during the test.
- The patient or patient’s parents/caretakers should keep a diary of any symptoms and the times that they occur.
- The probe is usually worn for 18 to 24 hours so that there is ample opportunity to detect both daytime and nighttime GE reflux episodes.
- After the study, information from the receiver is uploaded to a computer for analysis.
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