Introduction:

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is an emerging, chronic and immune-mediated disease. Clinically it is characterized by symptoms associated with esophageal dysfunction, and histologically by predominantly inflammatory eosinophil infiltrate.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to describe the clinical, endoscopic and histopathological characteristics of children and adolescents diagnosed with EoE at the Hospital Universitario Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá between 2007 and 2017.

Methods:

This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and observational study that included patients under 18 years of age with histopathological diagnoses of EoE.

Results:

Forty-six patients were included, 31 were male, and the average age was 11.8 years (range 11 months - 18 years). Seventy percent presented abdominal pain, 37% presented heartburn, 28% suffered vomiting, 22% had nausea and dysphagia. The most common antecedents were asthma (41%), allergic rhinitis (37%), gastroesophageal reflux disease (22%) and atopic dermatitis (15%). The most frequent endoscopic finding consisted of whitish exudates found in 35% of the cases. Endoscopic suspicion of EoE was described in 50% of the cases. The histopathological study showed 15 to 40 eosinophils per high power field (HPF) in 52%, 41-60/HPF in 19.5%, and 61-80/HPF in 15.2%. Hyperplasia of the basal lamina was found in 95.6% of the cases.

Conclusions:

The majority of patients were adolescents (69%), the most frequent symptom was abdominal pain (70%), and 40% of cases had histories of atopy. Only 50% had endoscopic findings suggestive of EoE. This study is the first clinical and pathological analysis of EoE cases in children and adolescents in Colombia.

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