Gastric emptying evaluation in children with erosive gastroesophageal reflux disease

• Published in: Pediatric surgery international Vol. 26; no. 5; pp. 473 - 478
• Main Authors: Machado, Rodrigo Strehl, Yamamoto, Érica, da Silva Patrício, Francy Reis, Reber, Marialice, Kawakami, Elisabete
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.05.2010; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Breath Tests; Case-Control Studies; Chi-Square Distribution; Child; Endoscopy, Digestive System; Female; Gastric Emptying; Gastroesophageal Reflux - physiopathology; Humans; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original Article; Pediatric Surgery; Pediatrics; Statistics, Nonparametric; Surgery; Surveys and Questionnaires; Esophagitis; Octanoic acids; Gastric emptying; Peptic
• ISSN: 0179-0358; 1437-9813
• DOI: 10.1007/s00383-010-2579-4

Background/aims Delayed gastric emptying may be an important contributing factor to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in children, but there are limited data on its evaluation in children with erosive-GERD. This study aims to evaluate the gastric emptying of a solid meal in patients with erosive-GERD. Methods Nineteen patients (age range 8.79–17.9 years) with erosive esophagitis and 14 healthy controls (age range from 8.04 to 18.7 years) were compared. Esophagitis was graded according to Los Angeles classification. The gastric emptying was evaluated by 13 C-octanoic breath test, which was performed after a 344 kcal standardized solid test meal. Symptoms were evaluated using a standardized questionnaire. Results The two most prevalent symptoms were nausea and epigastric pain, which were reported by 12 (63.2%) patients. Irritable bowel syndrome was present in 26.3% (5/19). The median gastric emptying half-time in patients was 160 min (interquartile range [IQR] 140–174 min), which was not different from the controls’ figure (median 157 min, IQR 143–170 min). Additionally, the lag time and the gastric emptying coefficient were not significantly different between the study groups. Conclusion Delayed gastric emptying is not associated with erosive esophagitis in children with GERD, when compared to controls.