Pediatric eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EGE)

What is pediatric eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EGE)?

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.

How is pediatric eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EGE) diagnosed?

Children’s Health pediatric gastroenterologists are experts in diagnosing and treating digestive disorders and nutrition problems in children.

• Evaluation - 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 - Identifies possible food allergies that could trigger an increase in 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 (EGE)?

Food allergies most often trigger EGE in children. However, doctors don’t always know the exact causes of EGE.

Risk factors

• Asthma
• Atopic dermatitis
• Food allergies

EGE affects more boys than girls, and EGIDs overall are slightly more common among older children and adults.

• Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorder (EGID) - EGE is one type of eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorder (EGID).

Other EGIDs that affect other areas inside the digestive system include:

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

How is pediatric eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EGE) treated?

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

Oral medications

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

Dietary changes

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.