Intractable wheezing in infants with nasopharyngeal reflux

Two infants with intractable wheezing and moist cough were referred to Chiba Municipal Kaihin Hospital. Their symptoms were persistent even after the usual treatment for respiratory disease. No definite etiological agents were detected. They usually gagged while feeding and barium swallow tests revealed nasopharyngeal reflux and cricopharyngeal incoordination. One of the patients had remarkably high titers of IgE and IgE RAST of cow's milk before she received treatment with thickened formula. She also had peripheral eosinophilia and nasal eosinophilia. These findings were thought to be caused by nasopharyngeal reflux. Four months after therapy commenced, those titers and symptoms were greatly reduced. The clinical and roentgenographic findings in these infants, and their response to therapy, strongly support a causal relationship between nasopharyngeal reflux and wheezing. Therefore, nasopharyngeal reflux should be considered when a baby has intractable wheezing, even when there is no developmental problem.