One-Hour Esophageal String Test: A Nonendoscopic Minimally Invasive Test That Accurately Detects Disease Activity in Eosinophilic Esophagitis

EoE disease monitoring: Where we are and where we are going

OBJECTIVE

To review literature on various methods of monitoring and characterizing eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) with respect to their validity as well as risk to the patient.

DATA SOURCES

A literature search was performed using PubMed with keyword combinations of EoE and monitoring as well as various techniques used for monitoring, including but not limited to, symptoms, endoscopy, histology, fluoroscopy, FLIP, noninvasive monitoring, and biomarkers.

STUDY SELECTIONS

Case-control studies, observational studies, peer-reviewed reviews and guidelines, and systematic reviews were selected, reviewed, and summarized here.

RESULTS

A wealth of research regarding monitoring of EoE is currently being undertaken and published. Our review highlights those that have been validated and are currently being used, as well as some that show promise for future monitoring and disease characterization.

CONCLUSION

Eosinophilic esophagitis is a chronic condition that at this time requires upper endoscopy as the gold standard of diagnosis and monitoring. There is a great need in the field for less invasive monitoring tools and better ways to characterize disease to allow for personalization of therapies.

Advancing patient care through the Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers (CEGIR)

Recent advances in rare disease research are accelerated by the work of consortia that have been supported by the National Institutes of Health. Development of such consortia rely on multidisciplinary relationships and engagement with patient advocacy groups, as well as the National Institutes of Health and industry and academic partners. In this rostrum we present the development of such a process that focuses on eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases. Principal investigators, patient advocacy groups, research assistants, and trainees work together to perform natural history studies that promote clinical trial readiness tools, conduct clinical trials, train a new generation of investigators, and perform innovative pilot studies.