Department of ENT & Maxillofacial Surgery, NAL Medical Centre Hospital, Trollhattan, Sweeden.
Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2009 Sep 1;30(5):495-500. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2036.2009.04059.x. Epub 2009 Jun 6.
Eosinophilic oesophagitis is thought to be an isolated oesophageal disease associated with biopsy-verified eosinophilia of the squamous cell epithelium of the oesophagus. Food- or aeroallergens have been suggested to be the cause of eosinophilic oesophagitis; however, as these allergens pass through the pharynx sharing the same squamous cell epithelium, eosinophilic infiltration could be expected also here. Whether this is true or not has hitherto not been clarified.
To find out whether eosinophilia is present also within the pharyngeal epithelium in patients with eosinophilic oesophagitis.
In all, 10 patients (median age 34, range 15-70) with biopsy-verified eosinophilic oesophagitis [peak count >20 eosinophils per high power field (hpf)] were biopsied also in the pharynx. The biopsies underwent histopathological examination and at each level, the peak number of eosinophils per hpf was counted.
None of the patients examined was found to have eosinophilia within the squamous cell epithelium of the pharynx (median peak count 0, range 0-1).
The pronounced eosinophilic infiltration in eosinophilic oesophagitis appears to be an isolated oesophageal phenomenon not shared by the adjoining organ sites and in particular, not by the pharynx. This may have implications for future research.
嗜酸性食管炎被认为是一种与食管鳞状上皮细胞嗜酸性粒细胞增多有关的孤立性食管疾病。食物或过敏原被认为是嗜酸性食管炎的病因；然而，由于这些过敏原通过共享相同的鳞状上皮细胞的咽腔，这里也可能出现嗜酸性粒细胞浸润。目前尚不清楚这是否属实。
了解嗜酸性食管炎患者的咽上皮是否也存在嗜酸性粒细胞增多。
总共对 10 名（中位年龄 34 岁，范围 15-70 岁）经活检证实的嗜酸性食管炎患者（高倍镜下嗜酸性粒细胞计数>20 个/高倍视野）进行了咽活检。对活检标本进行组织病理学检查，并在每个水平上计数每高倍视野的嗜酸性粒细胞的峰值数量。
检查的患者均未发现咽鳞状上皮细胞中有嗜酸性粒细胞增多（中位峰值计数 0，范围 0-1）。
嗜酸性食管炎中明显的嗜酸性粒细胞浸润似乎是一种孤立的食管现象，不与相邻的器官部位共享，特别是不与咽腔共享。这可能对未来的研究有影响。
