Erosive lesions of the esophagus in schoolchildren

Abstract

Introduction. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a common disease characterized by the ingestion of stomach contents into the esophagus, causing symptoms and/or complications. According to various authors, the prevalence of signs of erosive esophagitis in GERD children patients, is 10-50%. Further study of the prevalence and clinical manifestations of erosive esophagitis in children is an urgent task. Purpose: to study the prevalence of erosive esophagitis in schoolchildren with clinical manifestations of dyspepsia. Materials and methods. We examined five hundred ninety six children patients who underwent primary gastroenterological examination for persistent signs of dyspepsia. The comparison group consisted of 30 children aged to 18 years. All children underwent endoscopic examination using a GIF XP-20 apparatus from Olympus (Japan). Esophagitis was diagnosed according to the Los Angeles classification. Results. The prevalence of erosive changes in the esophagus in the examined patients was 17.4%. Erosive lesions of the esophagus occurred with equal prevalence in patients of primary and secondary school age. Boys predominate among patients with erosive esophagitis. Erosive esophagitis at the stage A was detected more often - 90.4%, less often at stages B - 7.7% and C - 1.9%, esophagitis in stage D was not detected in any of the cases. Conclusion. The main clinical manifestations of erosive esophagitis are abdominal pain, heartburn, belching, and nausea. The features of the clinical course depending on the stage of esophagitis were established.