Colonic mucosal eosinophilia in children without inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract Children undergoing colonoscopy and mucosal biopsies may show increased colonic mucosal eosinophils, which may or may not be associated with inflammatory bowel disease. There is not much clinical data on American children who have isolated increased colonic mucosal eosinophils. We sought to study the clinical correlates of children without inflammatory bowel disease who show increased mucosal eosinophils to understand their clinical presentation, etiological associations and outcome. A retrospective analysis of children seen at a tertiary-level Children’s hospital was done by reviewing their medical charts and extracting pertinent data. There were 110 children in the study who had increased colonic mucosal eosinophils. Most children presented with abdominal pain, but several of them also had constipation, blood in stools and diarrhea. Food allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma and lactase deficiency were the top four conditions present in these patients. Pathology of the colonic distribution revealed involvement of more than 2 colonic regions in 86% of the subjects, and only two subjects showing epithelial or crypt involvement by eosinophils. All subjects had a good outcome. Children with CME who do not have an inflammatory bowel disease most frequently present with abdominal pain and primarily an increase of lamina propria eosinophils in 2 or more colonic regions. Based on the etiological associations we noted in the study, a work-up of children with CME may encompass detailed history for functional gastrointestinal disorders and lactose intolerance, testing for food and environmental allergies, stool examination for parasites, and peripheral blood counts. Almost all children had resolution of symptoms in the studied period suggesting that CME in children has good clinical outcome.