[Eosinophilic gastroenteritis: review of the published cases in Spain and comparison with foreign literature]

We review the Spanish literature on Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis. The data are compared with those of several foreign series. Abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal distension due to ascites were the most frequent clinical manifestations. In our country most cases had ascites. A history of allergy was reported by less than on half of patients. Peripheral eosinophilia with otherwise normal laboratory findings is the rule. However, peripheral eosinophilia was not essential for diagnosis, since it was absent in one quarter of patients. Small intestine barium studies were abnormal almost always, but the findings were not specific. The diagnosis is based on the endoscopic and/or peroral gastrointestinal biopsy. However, a false negative diagnosis can occur, since the disease can take up a patchy distribution, or a more profound involvement of the gastrointestinal layers without mucosal disease. The treatment of choice is corticosteroids, with a spectacular therapeutic response. Complete studies with biopsies taken at multiple levels of the gastrointestinal tract, are necessary to ascertain the extent and depth of the disease. The etiology is unknown, and although allergy causes can be elicited in some cases, they are absent in the majority of them. We encounter no essential differences in the eosinophilic gastroenteritis characteristics in our country in relation to other countries.