Supporting gastroesophageal reflux disease diagnostics by using wavelet analysis in esophageal pH-metry

Abstract

This paper presents a new approach to computer supported esophageal pH-metry measurement analysis performed in order to diagnose gastroesophageal reflux disease. In this approach wavelet analysis was used to analyse the esophageal pH-metry course. The research was performed on three groups of pH-metry courses: whole 24-hour pH-metry course, sleep only pH-metry course and 20 minutes after the end of a meal pHmetry course. After performing a 128 level decomposition of the pH-metry course, the Wx was defined as a parameter of extreme differential. This parameter was used to distinguish patients esophageal pH-metry results and on that basis classify patients as healthy or sick. Using this method the sensitivity of 77% was achieved.