Clinical Utility of Paediatric Endoscopy and Correlation between Endoscopic and Histological Findings

Background. The number of gastrointestinal endoscopies in children is rapidly increasing without evidence of a parallel increase in disease burden. The positive yield of paediatric endoscopies outside certain conditions is small but the impact of normal “negative” results on clinical management is poorly studied. Routine mucosal biopsy in all paediatric endoscopies is common practice. We aimed to assess the impact of normal endoscopy on patient care, defined by symptom improvement and discharge from hospital follow-up, and calculate the correlation between endoscopic and histological findings. Methods. Retrospective analysis of the first diagnostic endoscopy in children (2015–2019) from Evelina London Children’ Hospital, in London, UK. Endoscopy and histology findings were recorded. Symptoms and follow-up were reviewed up to six months after the endoscopy. Results. 362 children were included; 46.7% were female. Mean age 10.5 (±4.1) years, 66.3% underwent OGDs, and 33.7% underwent combined OGD and colonoscopies. 72.9% of endoscopies and 57.2% of all biopsies were normal. There was a strong positive correlation between endoscopic findings and biopsy results (phi 0.68 p < .001 ). 31.2% of children reported symptom improvement and were discharged from further follow-up after undergoing endoscopy after 1.9 (±1.5) clinics, phi 0.2 p < 0.001 between normal endoscopy and discharge. Conclusion. Negative endoscopy appears to influence clinical management and discharge from hospital follow-up in about a third of children undergoing endoscopy. The practice of routine biopsies in all paediatric endoscopies should be considered due to a strong positive correlation between normal endoscopies and normal biopsies.