Endoscopic Findings of Children with Familial Mediterranean Fever

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an auto inflammatory disease characterized by periodic fever, synovitis and serositis. Patients may be admitted to gastroenterology units due to gastrointestinal symptoms. In this study; we aimed to analyze endoscopic findings and diagnostic utility of endoscopic procedure in children with FMF.

Patient with FMF that was performed endoscopy for the gastrointestinal symptoms were included to the study (39 of 164 patients, 53 procedure). A control group was randomly designed as age and gender matched four endoscopic procedures per one endoscopic procedure of patients with FMF (n=212).

No different was found between the patients and control group in esophagogastroscopy findings. However, the diagnosis of gastrointestinal pathology was made by esophagogastroscopy in 46.2% patients. Colonoscopic examination revealed that the frequency of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was higher in undiagnosed patients compared to both the control group (50.0% vs. 6.9%, p<0.05, odds ratio [OR]:13.4 and 95% confidence inteval [95% CI]: 2.1-84.3) and the patients under colchicine treatment (50.0% vs. 8.3%, p<0.05, OR: 11 and 95% CI: 0.8-147.8). Colonoscopic procedure that was made after the diagnosis was found to provide contribution by 16.7% in determining the etiology of the additional symptoms.

Patients with FMF may be admitted to pediatric gastroenterology outpatient clinic prior to diagnosis or during the follow-up period. The frequency of IBD is high in undiagnosed patients with FMF. Endoscopic procedures may be helpful in these patients for the diagnosis accompanying mucosal lesions.