Role of upper endoscopy in evaluation of upper gastrointestinal symptoms in patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation

We reviewed our upper endoscopy (esophagogastroduodenoscopy, EGD) experience in a group of 65 consecutive patients receiving carmustine (BCNU) 600 mg/m2, cisplatin 200 mg/m2, VP-16 2400 mg/m2, and autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or Hodgkin's disease. Forty-one patients (33 with chest irradiation) underwent 48 EGDs for the following symptoms: upper gastrointestinal bleeding (melena and/or hematemesis) (12/48); persistent nausea and vomiting (7/48); odynophagia (25/48); and dysphagia (14/48). All patients who had dysphagia or odynophagia had endoscopic evidence of severe esophagitis, with confluent erosions or ulcerations. Gastrointestinal bleeding, which presented as melena or hematemesis, was caused by severe esophagitis in 11 of 12 patients. Yeasts were detected in 11/42 histological, or cytological specimens and were isolated in 4/26 cultures. No bleeding or infectious complications occurred in any patient as a result of the EGD procedure. We conclude that severe esophagitis documented by EGD is common in lymphoma patients receiving autologous BMT. Use of EGD, however, did not affect the decision to initiate empirical therapy with amphotericin B for persistent fever.