Comparison of 2 delivery vehicles for viscous budesonide to treat eosinophilic esophagitis in children.

Oral viscous budesonide (OVB) using Splenda as a delivery vehicle has become an attractive therapeutic option for children with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). Many families are wary of giving the artificial sweetener in high doses to their children. The aim of the present study was to determine whether OVB mixed with Neocate Nutra, a hypoallergenic nutritional supplement, is at least as efficacious as OVB mixed with Splenda at healing EoE.Our institutional review board approved a retrospective chart review of patients with well-documented EoE treated with OVB at the Boston Children's Hospital Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorder program between June 2008 and June 2013. Primary outcome measured was histologic response defined as change in peak eosinophil count to <15 eosinophils per high-power field (eos/HPF) after at least 10 weeks of OVB therapy.A total of 46 children were treated with OVB mixed with Splenda, and 14 were treated with OVB mixed with Neocate Nutra. The 2 groups were not significantly different in their demographic (race, age, sex) or clinical (initial eosinophil count, proton pump inhibitor use, or concomitant dietary elimination) characteristics. On follow-up endoscopy, 30 of 46 patients on Splenda and 13 of 14 patients on Neocate Nutra achieved histologic response. Mean pretreatment and posttreatment peak eosinophil counts for the children taking Neocate Nutra were 62 eos/HPF ([high-power field] range 20-120 eos/HPF) and 9 eos/HPF (range 0-100 eos/HPF), respectively. Mean pretreatment and posttreatment peak eosinophil counts for the Splenda group were 59.5 eos/HPF (range 20-180 eos/HPF) and 25.5 eos/HPF (range 0-200 eos/HPF), respectively. The odds ratio (OR) of success with Neocate Nutra as compared with Splenda was 6.93 (95% CI 0.83-57.91, P = 0.0728), demonstrating the noninferiority of Neocate Nutra.We demonstrate that OVB mixed with Neocate Nutra is at least as effective as OVB mixed with Splenda at treating children with EoE. Neocate Nutra is an innovative, effective, and palatable mixing agent to create a viscous budesonide slurry for families who prefer not to use the standard recipe with Splenda.