ESPGHAN Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome Position Paper

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Management of Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome in Children and Adolescents: A Position Paper by the ESPGHAN Polyposis Working Group; Link:JPGN 2019; 68 (3): 442-452

This position paper serves as a good review and makes clear recommendations for evaluation and management.

In a single individual, a clinical diagnosis of PJS may be made when any one of the following is present:
1. Two or more histologically confirmed PJS polyps
2. Any number of PJS polyps detected in 1 individual who has a family history of PJS in close relative(s)
3. Characteristic mucocutaneous pigmentation in an individual who has a family history of PJS in close relative(s)
4. Any number of PJS polyps in an individual who also has characteristic mucocutaneous pigmentation.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

  • Recommendation 1 Predictive genetic testing for an asymptomatic at risk child should be offered from the age of 3 years and should be performed earlier in a symptomatic at-risk child. (moderate recommendation, low-quality evidence, agreement 90%)
  • Recommendation 2 Lip and mucosal freckling is not diagnostic of PJS alone. Patients with lip and mucosal freckling suggestive of PJS should be referred to a geneticist for diagnostic genetic testing. Investigation of the GI tract is recommended to start no later than age 8 unless symptoms arise earlier. (weak recommendation, low-quality evidence, agreement 100%)
  • Recommendation 3 GI surveillance by upper GI endoscopy, colonoscopy, and VCE should commence no later than 8 years in an asymptomatic individual with PJS, and earlier if symptomatic…and generally be repeated every 3 years. Earlier investigation of the GI tract should be performed in symptomatic patients. (moderate recommendation, low-quality evidence, agreement 90%)
  • Recommendation 4 Patients with symptomatic intussusception should be urgently referred for surgical reduction. There is no role for radiological or endoscopic reduction of intussusception in a symptomatic child with intestinal obstruction from a PJS polyp. At laparotomy, patients should ideally undergo an intraoperative enteroscopy to clear the small bowel of other PJS polyps. (strong recommendation, low-quality evidence, agreement 100%)
  • Recommendation 5 Elective polypectomy should be performed to prevent
    polyp-related complications. Small bowel polyps >1.5 to 2 cm in size (or smaller if symptomatic) should be electively removed to prevent intussusception. Endoscopic, surgical, and combined approaches all have their merit and the choice of modality should be made on a case by case basis (weak recommendation, low-quality evidence, agreement 100%)
  • Recommendation 6 LCCSCTs [Large-cell calcifying Sertoli cell tumours of the testes] leading to feminizing manifestations including gynaecomastia are associated with the PJS and males should be assessed for this at clinical assessment.
  • Recommendation 7 There is no role for pharmacological agents as a treatment or for chemoprevention in PJS. (strong recommendation, low-quality evidence, agreement 100%)
  • Recommendation 8 Cancer in children with PJS is an extremely rare event. Children and adolescents should be routinely clinically examined for features of sex cord tumours

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