Background/aims: Esophageal eosinophilia occurs in many conditions, including eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and proton pump inhibitor-responsive esophageal eosinophilia (PPI-REE), which have been increasingly recognized in Western countries. There have been only a few reports in Korea. Here, we evaluated the clinical and endoscopic characteristics of patients with esophageal eosinophilia from our experience.
Methods: Nineteen patients were diagnosed with esophageal eosinophilia based on typical symptoms, endoscopic features, esophageal eosinophilia with ≥15 eosinophils/high power field, and response to medication by PPI. Symptoms, endoscopic and pathological findings were evaluated.
Results: Of the 19 patients, 2 patients were diagnosed with EoE, 7 patients were diagnosed with PPI-REE, and 10 patients were undetermined due to loss to follow-up. Among these 19 patients, dysphagia was present in 11, and heartburn, dyspepsia and refluxin 8. Sixteen patients had common endoscopic features, such as longitudinal furrows, concentric rings, strictures, and white plaques; however, 3 patients had normal findings. Nine patients underwent endoscopy at the time of follow-up. Two patients had complete resolution, and 3 had partial resolution. However, 4 patients showed no endoscopic changes. All patients showed symptom improvements.
Conclusions: The clinical and endoscopic characteristics of both groups in Korea were undistinguishable. However, after treatment, endoscopic findings were different between the two groups. Large-scale studies are warranted to confirm our findings.
Keywords: Eosinophilia; Esophagus; Proton pump inhibitors.