Cyclic vomiting syndrome in children: a nationwide survey of current practice on behalf of the Italian Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (SIGENP) and Italian Society of Pediatric Neurology (SINP)

Background

Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS) is a rare functional gastrointestinal disorder, which has a considerable burden on quality of life of both children and their family. Aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic modalities and therapeutic approach to CVS among Italian tertiary care centers and the differences according to subspecialties, as well as to explore whether potential predictive factors associated with either a poor outcome or a response to a specific treatment.

Methods

Cross-sectional multicenter web-based survey involving members of the Italian Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (SIGENP) and Italian Society of Pediatric Neurology (SINP).

Results

A total of 67 responses were received and analyzed. Most of the respondent units cared for less than 20 patients. More than half of the patients were referred after 3 to 5 episodes, and a quarter after 5 attacks. We report different diagnostic approaches among Italian clinicians, which was particularly evident when comparing gastroenterologists and neurologists. Moreover, our survey demonstrated a predilection of certain drugs during emetic phase according to specific clinic, which reflects the cultural background of physicians.

Conclusion

In conclusion, our survey highlights poor consensus amongst clinicians in our country in the diagnosis and the management of children with CVS, raising the need for a national consensus guideline in order to standardize the practice.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13052-022-01346-y.

Low-Risk Human Leukocyte Antigen Genes and Mild Villous Atrophy Typify Celiac Disease With Immunoglobulin A Deficiency

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to establish if in celiac disease (CD) with immunoglobulin A deficiency (IgAD) duodenal histopathology is influenced by human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQB1∗02 alleles dosage. Clinical differences between patients with CD and patients with CD and IgAD (CD-IgAD) were also evaluated.

METHODS

Five hundred and sixteen CD and 16 patients with CD-IgAD, enrolled over the time of 8 years, took part in this study. The severity of duodenal histopathology and frequency of CD at-risk HLA class II genes were compared in patients with CD versus patients with CD-IgAD. HLA class II genotypes were subdivided into two categories of genetic risk: high: HLA-DR3/DR7, -DR3/DR3, -DR4/DR4 -DR3/DR4 and low: HLA-DR5/DR7, -DR3/X, -DR4/X and X/X, where X means neither -DR3 nor -DR4. Then, they were compared with two types of duodenal histopathology: 0, 1, 2 and 3a of mild villous atrophy (MVA) and 3b and 3c of severe villous atrophy (SVA) according to the Marsh-Oberhuber classification. Clinical data concerning gender, number of esophagogastroduodenoscopies (EGDs) and association with other autoimmune diseases were obtained from medical records.

RESULTS

In comparison with CD, CD-IgAD showed an increased frequency of MVA (P < 0.0001). Furthermore, CD-IgAD with MVA showed an increase of HLA low-risk genotypes (P = 0.036) and half HLA-DQ2 heterodimers (P = 0.0443). Interestingly, CD-IgAD demanded an increased number of EGDs to reach the diagnosis of CD (P = 0.0104) and autoimmune liver diseases were more frequent compared to CD (P = 0.0049).

CONCLUSIONS

CD-IgAD is associated with MVA, low-risk HLA class II genes, an increased number of EGDs and autoimmune liver diseases.