Eosinophilic Esophagitis

Eosinophilic esophagitis (eosinophilic oesophagitis), also known as allergic oesophagitis, is an allergic inflammatory condition of the esophagus that involves eosinophils, a type of white blood cell.

Symptoms: Symptoms which may include difficulty swallowing, food impaction, regurgitation or vomiting, and decreased appetite. This includes asthma and coeliac disease.

Diagnosis: Prior to the development of the EE Diagnostic Panel, EoE could only be diagnosed if gastroesophageal reflux did not respond to a 6 week trial of twice-a-day high-dose proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) or if a negative ambulatory pH study ruled out gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Treament: First-line therapy is with swallowed liquid corticosteroids and other anti-inflammatories, including fluticasone, a topical viscous budesonide oral suspension.Patients with severe symptoms despite these interventions may require oral corticosteroids such as methylprednisolone.Other anti-inflammatory agents have also been trialled, including leukotriene antagonists such as montelukast, anti-interleukins such as the anti-IL-5 monoclonal antibody mepolizumab, and antihistamines such as loratadine.