System, Device And Method For Recording Pressure Profiles In The Pharynx And In The Upper Isophageal Sphincter Upon Swallowing

A pressure profile recording system, comprising a first pressure sensor (2) by which pressure variations in the pharyngeal muscle are continuously recordable upon swallowing, and a second pressure sensor (3) by which pressure variations in the upper esophageal sphincter (UES) are simultaneously recordable, and a processor unit (6) controlled to display timely correlated pressure profiles of the swallowing activities in the pharyngeal and cricopharyngeal muscles, respectively, derived from pressure data recorded by the first and second pressure sensors (2;

• 3) and obtained during a normal swallowing act, wherein pressures are collected by a manometric catheter (10) insertable into the esophagus, said manometric catheter comprising:
• a first lumen (11) associated with said first pressure sensor (2) and communicating with a water supply by which the first lumen is continuously flushed with water that exits from a window (14) formed through the lumen wall;
• a second lumen (12) associated with said second pressure sensor (3) and connecting a water supply to the interior of an inelastic, elongate balloon (13) which is supported about the catheter with a proximal end of the balloon (13) located about 30-40 mm distally of said window (14), characterized in that the balloon (13) having a length from a proximal end to a distal end such that, as the window (14) levels with the tongue bone (hyoid bone), i.e. the hypopharynx, in the inserted position of the manometric catheter (10), the balloon (13) reaches from proximally of the upper esophageal sphincter in rest and distally past the upper esophageal sphincter with its distal end, and in that the balloon (13) is filled with water to one atmosphere internal pressure and as such insertable into the esophagus, as the result of which the second pressure sensor (3) continuously registers absolute pressures from the upper esophageal sphincter during a normal swallowing act, notwithstanding a spontaneous vertical movement of the upper esophageal sphincter upon swallowing.