Cow's milk allergy in extremely short bowel syndrome: Report of two infants

A rare case of eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders with short bowel syndrome after strangulated bowel obstruction

Background

Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a rare yet costly disease with an incidence rate of 3 per million people. Herein, we report a rare case of eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGIDs) with SBS after strangulated bowel obstruction.

Case presentation

A 5-year-old male had a necrotic intestine of 340 cm resected due to strangulated bowel obstruction caused by an intestinal mesenteric hiatal hernia. The length of the residual intestine was 51 cm. Bloody stools appeared 19 days postoperatively. Colonoscopy showed diffuse redness of the colonic mucosa, and pathological findings showed moderate chronic inflammatory cellular infiltration. On blood examination, the eosinophil count was > 30%. EGIDs with short bowel syndrome (SBS) were suspected. Because his symptoms did not improve with initial nutrition therapy, he was transferred to our hospital 5 months after the operation. Prednisolone was administrated at an initial dose of 1.4 mg/kg/day, 6 days after his transfer. Bloody stools disappeared after prednisolone administration. Seven months after discharge, he had no bloody stool recurrence.

Conclusion

The risk of developing secondary EGIDs in children with SBS should be considered, and postoperative management should include attention to abdominal symptoms and elevated eosinophil counts on blood examination.

Enteral nutrition in pediatric intestinal failure: does initial feeding impact on intestinal adaptation?

Primary IF can be due to impaired gut length or impaired gut function; short bowel syndrome (SBS) is the leading cause of IF. In IF patients complete enteral starvation should be avoided whenever possible and enteral/oral nutrition (EN/ON) should be employed at the maximum tolerated amount in each phase of the clinical evolution of IF. Intraluminal nutrients have stimulatory effects on epithelial cells and on trophism that enhance intestinal adaptation. Areas covered: Evidence for nutritional interventions in pediatric IF is limited and of poor quality. Clinical practice in SBS feeding are more 'experience-based' rather than 'evidence-based' and this dearth of clinical evidence is partly due to the rarity of this condition. This review updates knowledge concerning the impact of the initial diet with EN/ON in neonatal onset SBS in the process of bowel adaption. Expert commentary: Human milk resulted the preferred starting diet and it is generally combined with amino-acids (AAs) in Northern America and with hydrolyzed proteins (HFs) in Europe; polymeric diet is rarely employed. HFs were not more effective than AAs in promoting intestinal adaptation.

High Prevalence of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease in Children With Intestinal Failure

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the present study was to describe the prevalence and clinical features of gastrointestinal (GI) eosinophilic inflammation among pediatric patients with intestinal failure (IF).

METHODS

Medical records of all patients studied in our institution's IF program who underwent GI endoscopy over a 15-year period were reviewed, and clinical, pathologic, nutrition, and laboratory data collected.

RESULTS

One hundred five patients underwent 208 GI endoscopic procedures with biopsy. The overall prevalence of eosinophilic inflammation, defined as increased eosinophils in at least 1 tissue type on at least 1 endoscopy, was 39 of 105 (37%). The tissue-specific prevalence of eosinophilic inflammation ranged widely, with the colon/rectosigmoid being the most common (18/68, 26%), followed by the esophagus (17/83, 20%), ileum (9/54, 17%), duodenum (4/83, 5%), and stomach (3/83, 4%). Higher peripheral eosinophil count and hematochezia were associated with eosinophilic inflammation in the colon (P = 0.002 and 0.0004, respectively). The use of a strict elemental diet for 3 months before endoscopy was not associated with a decreased frequency of eosinophilic inflammation in any tissue.

CONCLUSIONS

Eosinophilic inflammation is a common histopathological finding in patients with IF. Colonic eosinophilic inflammation is associated with clinical symptoms of GI blood loss, and peripheral eosinophilia, and was not abrogated by a strict elemental diet.

Retrospective multicenter survey on food-related symptoms suggestive of cow's milk allergy in NICU neonates

BACKGROUND

Cow's milk allergy (CMA) is one of the causes of gastrointestinal symptoms in neonates. A relationship between non-immunoglobulin (Ig) E mediated allergic reactions and CMA in early infancy has been proposed, but the clinical features and pathogenesis have not been established. The objective of this study is to determine the clinical characteristics of the neonates found in the earlier study to have food-related symptoms that suggested CMA.

METHODS

A second questionnaire was sent to 53 NICUs, as a follow-up to the earlier study, to collect information on the background, onset age, clinical features, and results of clinical examinations.

RESULTS

The median birth weight was 2614g and the median gestational age was 36.9 weeks. Symptoms developed within 6 days after birth in 40% of cases. Gastrointestinal symptoms were seen in 90% of cases and were mainly vomiting, bloody stool and abdominal distention. A specific IgE test, a lymphocyte stimulation test, and a fecal eosinophil test were conducted in 88%, 23% and 55% of cases, respectively, and the positive rates were 30%, 84%, and 75%, respectively. An oral food challenge (OFC) test was performed in 26% for confirmation of the diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONS

We confirmed that the clinical manifestations of food-related symptoms suggestive of CMA in neonates were distinctly different from those of common immediate type food allergy and were largely affected by underlying factors such as prematurity and gastroenterological surgery. Further OFC-based prospective accumulation of cases of CMA in neonates will be particularly important to reveal the full clinical features of this disease.