[Clinical characteristics of 17 cases of eosinophilic gastroenteritis]

Eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EG) is a rare disease characterized by prominent eosinophilic infiltration that may involve a variable depth of one or more gastrointestinal organs. We analyzed the largest number of patients with EG among the studies carried out at a single center in Korea.

We retrospectively analyzed the clinical, laboratory, endoscopic, and radiologic features, management, and clinical outcome in 17 patients who were diagnosed as EG from January 1994 to February 2008.

Median age was 36 (2-67 years). Two of the 17 patients had a history of allergy. The most common symptoms were abdominal pain and diarrhea. Fifteen patients (88.2%) had hypereosinophilia. The ESR was moderately raised in 6 out of 14 patients. Eleven patients (64.7%) had predominant involvement of the mucosa, 1 (5.9%) of muscularis, and 5 (29.4%) of subserosa. EGD revealed non-specific findings such as erythema and edema. Abdominal Computed tomography revealed gastrointestinal wall thickenings of the involved organ, and all of 5 cases of the subserosal type had ascites. Thirteen patients (76.5%) were improved by corticosteroid treatment. Among five patients who had been followed for more than one year (12-84 months), two experienced relapse after discontinuing corticosteroids.

EG should be considered in the differential diagnosis of unexplained gastrointestinal symptoms even in the absence of peripheral eosinophilia and in non-specific endoscopic findings.