DPlots

Dplots (Patent Pending) is the first commercial software that allows both the analysis and study of contraction-inhibition of esophageal muscles during the passage of liquid bolus inside the esophagus. It offers commonly used metrics, but in addition offers new ways of both visualization and analysis of esophageal manometry data. It is intended for non-clinical, research use only. Access user manual and video tutorial for all features in the client area.

High resolution manometry (HRM) is the current gold standard to assess esophageal motility. However, a significant number of patients with difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) have normal esophageal motility and are labelled as having functional dysphagia or hypersensitive esophagus. Esophageal peristalsis, and for that matter, peristalsis throughout the gastrointestinal tract consists of 2 phases, 1) initial relaxation followed by 2) contraction. While HRM is a perfect test to study the contraction phase of peristalsis, it does not assess the initial relaxation phase of peristalsis. It is possible that patients with functional dysphagia have problems with the relaxation phase of peristalsis.

Using unique concepts developed in our laboratory, we have built a software program (Dplots 1.0) that can measure the relaxation phase of esophageal peristalsis. The relaxation (distension) can be displayed along with contraction in several visual formats. Future studies are likely to reveal that significant number of patients with difficulty swallowing have problems with the relaxation (distension) components of peristalsis. We believe Dplots allows better assessment of peristalsis than existing HRM analysis methods. Watch Dplots Tutorial