- Barrett's Esophagus?

[Guest guest]

,

While looking at some reflux issues, I ran across "Barrett's Esophagus." Have you looked into this condition for your son? It's seen in chronic GERD cases, at times.

Here's a really long interesting article about it - http://www.nature.com/gimo/contents/pt1/full/gimo44.html. I'm skim-reading through it. I noticed something they said in it though when talking about it's epidemiology, "Barrett's esophagus can be found in children, although it is extremely uncommon to find intestinal metaplasia in the esophagus of children under the age of 5 years.8 There appears to be an association between mental retardation and Barrett's esophagus in childhood.9"

They do say it is uncommon in young children, but they also say there seems to be an association between MR and Barrett's esophagus . . .so the chances *could* be higher in children with DS.

--

Gastroesophageal reflux.

Zamir D.

Department of Internal Medicine D, Barzilai Medical Center, Ashkelon, 78306, Israel. ZAMIR@...

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is the most common disease of the gastrointestinal system. Heartburn, regurgitation, and dysphagia are the most common symptoms of GERD. However, chest pain, chronic cough, laryngitis, hoarseness, and other otolaryngologic manifestation can be the primary manifestations of the disease. Endoscopy, barium studies, and especially pH monitoring and therapeutic trials may help in establishing the diagnosis of GERD. The introduction of H2 antagonists and especially of proton pump inhibitors (PPI) has brought symptomatic relief in most patients. However, surgical procedures, especially laparoscopic fundoplication, are still required in some patients. Barrett's esophagitis is the most common complication of GERD and is associated with a high prevalence of esophageal adenocarcinoma. Whether or not treatment with either PPIs or H2 antagonists can prevent this complication is still under investigation.

PMID: 16198896 [PubMed]

-----

Qadoshyah

*Got Down Syndrome?

www.gotdownsyndrome.net http://gotdownsyndrome.blogspot.com