Upper gastro-intestinal mucosal changes in patients with chronic renal failure

A prospective study was undertaken to determine the radiological, endoscopic and histological changes of upper gastro-intestinal mucosa in patients with end-stage renal failure and the effect of haemodialysis. Of the 30 patients studied, 28 (93%) had presented with upper gastrointestinal symptoms. Abnormal findings on upper gastrointestinal endoscopy were observed in 66.7% patients. These comprised oesophagitis (23.3%) gastritis (30%), duodenitis (33.3%) and peptic ulcer (6.7%). Histological study of the mucosal tissue biopsy in 24 patients showed oesophagitis, gastritis and duodenitis in 12.5%, 45.8% and 37.5% respectively. Ten patients were re-evaluated after institution of haemodialysis therapy for a minimum of one month. Though there was a significant improvement in gastrointestinal symptoms (p less than 0.05), there was no effect on endoscopic changes. The study documents a high incidence of mucosal inflammatory changes rather than that of ulcer disease in chronic renal failure.