Pediatric Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis (EGE)

What is Pediatric Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis?

Eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EGE) is a chronic (long-term) disorder that affects the stomach and small intestine. The condition occurs when the body produces too many eosinophils, a specific type of white blood cells.

As part of the immune system, eosinophils help fight allergies and infections by promoting inflammation. But with EGE, the inflammation starts or continues even when it is unneeded. Over time, the inflammation can lead to tissue damage and other symptoms and may prevent your child’s digestive system from absorbing nutrients from food.

What are the signs and symptoms of Pediatric Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis?

• Abdominal (belly) pain and bloating
• Diarrhea
• Failure to thrive (FTT)
• Nausea and vomiting
• Unintended weight loss

How is Pediatric Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis diagnosed?

Children’s Health pediatric gastroenterologists are experts in diagnosing and treating digestive disorders and nutrition problems in children. In our evaluation, we do a complete physical exam of your child. We also ask you about their personal and family medical history and any signs or symptoms you’ve noticed. We also review your child’s medical records, including previous surgeries, procedures, blood work and allergy testing.

To confirm a diagnosis, your child may need one or more additional tests, which may include:

• Allergy testing to identify possible food allergies that could trigger an increase in eosinophils
• Blood tests to check the level of eosinophils
• Endoscopic biopsy, a minimally invasive procedure to take a small tissue sample to check the level of eosinophils

We are committed to using child-friendly language, equipment and amenities, so your child feels comfortable and at ease while in our care.

What causes Pediatric Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis?

Food allergies most often trigger EGE in children. However, doctors don’t always know the exact causes of EGE. Factors that might increase your child’s risk of EGE include:

• Asthma
• Atopic dermatitis
• Food allergies

EGE is one type of eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorder (EGID). Other EGIDs that affect other areas inside the digestive system include:

• Eosinophilic colitis (EC), which affects the large intestine (colon)
• Eosinophilic duodenitis, which affects the first section of the small intestine
• Eosinophilic enteritis, which affects the small intestine
• Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), which affects the esophagus
• Eosinophilic gastritis (EG), which affects the stomach

How is Pediatric Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis treated?

At Children’s Health, our pediatric gastroenterology team treats EGE with medications, dietary changes or both treatment options.

To treat inflammation, we may prescribe oral (taken by mouth) medications such as:

• Proton pump inhibitors. These medications reduce the production of stomach acid to relieve inflammation.
• Steroids. Steroid medications help suppress the immune reaction that’s causing inflammation.

We help you and your child make dietary changes to eliminate or reduce the triggers of inflammation. Depending on your child’s specific health needs, we may recommend one of these nutrition plans:

• Allergen elimination diet. This plan removes common trigger foods such as milk, soy, eggs, peanuts, wheat and seafood from your child's diet. After a few weeks, we do an endoscopy to ensure your child’s EGD is in remission and add foods, one by one, to identify which are causing the inflammation.
• Targeted elimination diet. First, your child undergoes allergy testing. Then, we eliminate any foods your child may be allergic to from their diet.
• Elemental diet. This diet involves a hypoallergenic formula with essential vitamins, minerals and proteins. The proteins are broken down as amino acids or peptides to make them safe for your child to eat. An elemental diet provides the nutrients your child needs in a formula that won’t cause inflammation.