Review Article
Eosinophilic Esophagitis- Clinical Management in Adults
Kouklakis S Georgios*, Vradelis D Stergios and Dellaportra ErminiaProfessor of Gastroenterology Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
- *Corresponding Author:
- Kouklakis S. Georgios
Professor of Gastroenterology Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
Tel: 00302551351003
E-mail: gkouklak@med.duth.gr
Received date: September 03, 2014; Accepted date: September 30, 2014; Published date: October 06, 2014
Citation: Georgios KS, Stergios VD, Erminia D (2014) Eosinophilic Esophagitis- Clinical Management in Adults. J Gastroint Dig Syst 4:226. doi:10.4172/2161-069X.1000226
Copyright: © 2014 Georgios KS, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) represents a chronic, immune-mediated esophageal disease, characterized clinically by symptoms related to esophageal dysfunction, histologically by eosinophilic infiltration of esophageal mucosa and endoscopically by a range of abnormalities. EoE is increasing in prevalence and predominantly affects children and young males, with a racial predilection of the patients being Caucasian. The relationship between EoE and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) can be complex, since their clinical and pathologic features may overlap. Furthermore, an entity that can be considered a subtype of GERD or EoE is the proton pump inhibitorresponsive esophageal eosinophilia (PPI-REE). PPI-REE emerged from the observation that some patients who appeared to have EoE would have a clinical and histologic response to PPI treatment. Currently, upper endoscopy with esophageal biopsies is the only way to diagnose EoE. Fifteen eosinophils//high-power field (hpf) are considered a minimum threshold for the diagnosis of EoE, since the disease is isolated to the esophagus and other causes of esophageal eosinophilia are excluded. Patients commonly have concurrent allergic diatheses, especially to food. The therapeutic options of EoE include: chronic elimination diet, topical corticosteroids and esophageal dilation. We review the latest approach to clinical diagnosis and management of EoE.
