ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Eosinophilic esophagitis is a chronic, immune-mediated disease described in case series and publications worldwide. Over the past twenty years, the authors of different studies have attempted to evaluate its incidence and prevalence. The objetive of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of eosinophilic esophagitis in a group of children seen at 36 pediatric gastroenterology centers in ten Latin American countries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A multicenter, observational, and cross-sectional study was conducted that estimated the period prevalence of eosinophilic esophagitis in children seen at outpatient consultation and that underwent diagnostic upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for any indication at 36 centers in 10 Latin American countries, within a 3-month time frame. RESULTS: Between April and June 2016, 108 cases of eosinophilic esophagitis were evaluated. Likewise, an average of 29,253 outpatient consultations and 4,152 diagnostic upper gastrointestinal endoscopies were carried out at the 36 participating centers. The period prevalence of eosinophilic esophagitis in the population studied (n=29,253) was 3.69 cases×1,000 (95% CI: 3.04 to 4.44), and among the children that underwent routine upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (n=4,152), it was 26x1,000 (95% CI: 22.6 to 29.4). CONCLUSIONS: The general period prevalence of eosinophilic esophagitis in a group of children evaluated at 36 Latin American pediatric gastroenterology centers was 3.69×1,000, and in the children that underwent endoscopy, it was 26×1,000. There was important prevalence variability between the participating countries and centers. The present analysis is the first study conducted on the prevalence of pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis in Latin America.
Subject(s)
Eosinophilic Esophagitis/epidemiology , Adolescent , Child , Child, Preschool , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Gastroenterology , Hospitals, Special , Humans , Infant , Latin America/epidemiology , Male , PrevalenceABSTRACT
Las lesiones vasculares hepáticas en niños son raras pero no infrecuentes en gastroenterología pediátrica. Los hemangiomas son los tumores hepáticos vasculares más frecuentes en la infancia, la mayoría de curso benigno, algunos, incluyendo el hemangioendotelioma infantil, tienen potencial maligno. La clínica predominante es hepatomegalia, dolor abdominal, hemangiomas cutáneos e insuficiencia cardíaca congestiva; y menos frecuente esplenomegalia, ictericia, ascitis, hemorragia digestiva y anemia. Se presentan 5 lactantes entre 1 y 4 meses con diagnóstico de hemangiomatosis hepática; en tres de ellos su diagnóstico fue incidental a través de ecografía, uno presentó aumento de volumen abdominal progresivo y otro hepatomegalia; tres presentaron hemangiomas en piel. Todos cursaron con anemia. Se realizó ecografía describiéndose hepatomegalia, con múltiples imágenes redondeadas, hipoecoicas, de diferentes tamaños, en ambos lóbulos hepáticos; Tomografía axial computada abdominal: hepatomegalia con compromiso de ambos lóbulos, ocupados por áreas nodulares hipodensas. Fueron evaluados por los servicios de endocrinología, cardiología, gastroenterología y cirugía pediátrica. En uno se realizó biopsia hepática. Recibieron tratamiento con prednisona 3 - 4 mg/kg/día con descenso progresivo de la misma, seguimiento clínico y ecográfico durante 1 año. Cuatro pacientes respondieron al tratamiento, evidenciándose disminución e incluso desaparición en tres pacientes de los hemangiomas, y uno no respondió, asociándose propanolol.
Hepatic vascular lesions in children are rare but not uncommon in pediatric gastroenterology. Hemangiomas are the most common vascular liver tumors in childhood, most benign course, some, including infantile hemangioendothelioma, have malignant potential. The clinical manifestations are hepatomegaly, abdominal pain, cutaneous hemangiomas and congestive heart failure and less frequent splenomegaly, jaundice, ascites, gastrointestinal bleeding and anemia. We present five infants between 1 and 4 months with a diagnosis of hepatic hemangiomatosis, in three of them the diagnosis was made incidentally by ultrasonography, showed a progressive increase in abdominal volume and a hepatomegaly, three had skin hemangiomas. All of them presented with anemia. Hepatomegaly describing ultrasound was performed, with multiple images rounded, hypoechoic, of different sizes in both lobes, abdominal computed tomography: hepatomegaly with involvement of both lobes, occupied by hypodense nodular areas. Services were assessed by endocrinology, cardiology, gastroenterology and pediatric surgery. In one a liver biopsy was performed. Treated with prednisone 3-4 mg / kg / day with gradual decrease of the same, clinical and ultrasound for 1 year. Four patients responded to treatment, demonstrating decreased or even disappeared in three patients with hemangiomas, and one did not respond, associating propranolol.