Minimally symptomatic patients with eosinophilic esophagitis should still be actively treated-CON

Abstract

To frame the reader's mind on the topic discussed in this article, I would like to start by presenting a hypothetical (or not so hypothetical) patient case. A 12-year-old boy presents with abdominal pain and nausea and occasional vomiting for the past year. He is seen by a gastroenterology specialist, who performs an upper endoscopy that reveals linear furrowing of the esophagus and 50 eosinophils per high-power field in the proximal esophagus and 40 eosinophils per high-power field in the distal esophagus. He begins treatment with omeprazole, 1 mg/kg daily, and an additional upper endoscopy 3 months later reveals 40 eosinophils per high-power field in the proximal and distal esophagus. At a follow-up visit after the endoscopy, the patient is asymptomatic and has continued to take his proton pump inhibitor (PPI). The patient and family are happy with the symptom relief provided by the PPI. Food-for-thoughtAnnals of Allergy, Asthma & ImmunologyVol. 122Issue 6PreviewThis year's Food Allergy theme puts a hefty portion of food-for-thought on your plate! We bring you important updates on the clinically relevant sizzling hot topics in food allergy, spanning prevention, diagnosis, and management of IgE and non-IgE-mediated food allergic disorders. For the first time, we are show-casing a series of pro and con debates presenting opposing views and welcome your feedback whether you enjoy reading such exchanges of opinions among the experts. Full-Text PDF Pro-Con DebateAnnals of Allergy, Asthma & ImmunologyVol. 122Issue 6PreviewIn this month's issue of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, we are kicking off a new feature that we hope will be an exciting addition to the spectrum of information available to our readers. This will be based on the extremely popular “Pro-Con Debates” that have been featured at many annual meetings of the College. The structure of this feature is to address a topic in allergy-immunology which may be controversial, have multiple schools of thought, and/or have little hard data but still be important to our practices so that hearing contrasting opinions can be educational and, hopefully, provocative to have the reader think and read more on the subject. Full-Text PDF The asymptomatic patient with eosinophilic esophagitis: To treat or not to treat?Annals of Allergy, Asthma & ImmunologyVol. 122Issue 6PreviewAsymptomatic diseases pose therapeutic dilemmas regarding how to balance the benefits and risks of treatment against the long-term complications of untreated disease. In the current issue of the Annals, 2 opposing views are presented, highlighting the important aspects of either approach.1,2 Full-Text PDF