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A pressure measurement was taken to study how your esophagus is working.

The oesophagus or gullet connects the mouth with the stomach. It is a muscular tube. The muscles in the oesophagus move food into the stomach. The oesophagus is usually closed by a sphincter muscle at the junction to the stomach. This is meant to prevent the stomach contents and gastric acid being regurgitated into the oesophagus. Only during swallowing does the oesophagus briefly open its sphincter muscle to the stomach.

To measure the pressure in the esophagus, a thin tube is pushed through the nose, throat and esophagus into the stomach. The tube has some sensors that can measure the pressure. The pressure in the esophagus was measured while the thin tube was slowly being withdrawn. The pressure can be measured both while you are relaxed and swallowing. Pressure measurements can be taken to, for example, study the movements of the esophagus. They can also be used to study how well the sphincter is closing the passage from the esophagus to the stomach.