Not only do you have to take a lot of esophageal biopsies, now you may need to call your pathologist to make sure you do not miss a case of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), especially if there are mildly increased eosinophils. At least, that’s the message I inferred from a recent study (Rothenberg ME, et al. JPGN 2015; 61: 65-8).
In this study, the researchers identified 477 biopsies from 429 patients with EoE; 316 were from “PPI confirmed patients.”
Key finding: Of the 477 biopsies, 106 had a peak count of between 1 and 14 eos/hpf cited in the pathology report. However, 23/106 (22% with 1-14 eos/hpf) had ≥15 esos/hpf after a second review.
Overall, 5% of the 477 biopsies were mischaracterized as not meeting the threshold of ≥15 esos/hpf prior to review. Given this frequency at a major medical center and frequent referral center for EoE, my suspicion is that the yield of a 2nd look would be at least as high in most other centers.
Take-home point: Look twice for EoE if eosinophil count is between 1/hpf and 14/hpf. Maybe some new diagnoses are being missed and maybe some of your EoE patients in histologic remission really aren’t.
Related blog posts:
- Predicting Response to Topical Steroids in Eosinophilic …
- Putting in Place a Big Piece of the Eosinophilic Esophagitis …
- How Common is Eosinophilic Esophagitis? | gutsandgrowth
- Eosinophilic Esophagitis Slide Set | gutsandgrowth
- Higher Doses of Topical Steroids for Eosinophilic Esophagitis
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