Synchronous recording and review of oesophageal manometry and video fluoroscopy using a portable manometry recorder and PC with integrated digital video acquisition

Abstract

We present the technical details of a new system for the synchronous recording and review of a combined oesophageal manometry and video fluoroscopic barium swallow examination. The system developed uses a portable manometry recorder and personal computer (PC) with an integrated digital video acquisition system. These are controlled using software to enable the real time capture of digital video and manometric data throughout the combined examination. The recorded pressure waveforms can then be synchronously displayed on a screen with the recorded digital video of the fluoroscopic barium swallow.This new tool enables both comparative measurement and detailed analysis of the relationship between visualized bolus transport and pressure measurements. It provides for a deeper understanding and improved clinical assessment of complex motility disorders over those obtained when these two modalities are applied separately. The system is easily incorporated into a clinical radiology suite and it is both user and patient friendly. It uses readily available computer hardware together with multimedia software and is a comparatively economical addition to the radiology suite with the manometry analysis available fulfilling the criteria laid down by the Clinical Associates Group of the British Society of Gastroenterology.

Temporal relationships between wall motion, intraluminal pressure, and flow in the isolated rabbit small intestine

“…To understand how pressure patterns relate to flow, it is necessary to combine several techniques. For example, in the esophagus, manometry has been combined with video fluoroscopy (11,17) and/or intraluminal impedance (28,30,31). These studies have enabled flow to be temporally associated with intraluminal pressures.…”

“…As the gut cannot be readily visualized in vivo, measurement of the relationship between wall movement and the intraluminal pressure is challenging. In the pharynx and esophagus, manometry and video fluoroscopy have been combined to monitor the real-time movement of a labeled bolus after swallowing (11,17). Similar techniques have been applied in animals to demonstrate a close temporal relationship between the flow of digesta and colonic propagating pressure waves (19).…”

Synchronised multimedia for engineering and scientific analysis

“…Reported work that is relevant to our goals includes descriptions of conceptual models [4,5,8,10] and practical implementations [2,3,6,9,15].…”

“…Other applications requiring synchronisation of stored media streams are described in the medical literature by [3,15]. The first of these presents a system for the capture and playback of radiological images that are synchronised with narration.…”

“…This system describes inter-media synchronisation for the relative starting of voice-overs with respect to the presentation of images (or vice versa) but does not consider finegrained synchronisation between two or more continuous media streams. Haylett et al [3] describe a specialised system that enables the synchronisation of a single video stream with a data stream using a single event for synchronisation. Their approach is similar to the schemes discussed in this paper, but they only consider the case of constant sampling rates.…”