The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics
2013 , Vol 55 , Num 1
Gastroesophageal Reflux: Natural Evolution, Diagnostic Approach and Treatment
1Department of Child Health, Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia, and
2UZ Brussel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium. E-mail: yvan.vandenplas@uzbrussel.be
Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) is a normal physiologic process occurring
several times per day in healthy infants. Regurgitation is defined as the
passage of refluxed gastric contents into the pharynx or mouth, sometimes
with expulsion out of the mouth. There are only a few studies that have
been performed to determine the prevalence of regurgitation and its natural
course in infants, and some of them were cross-sectional and retrospective.
However, evaluation of the natural evolution of GER becomes difficult, since
the emergence of widespread self-treatment and/or therapeutic interventions.
It is important to determine which children have GER disease to offer
optimal treatment and to avoid costly and potentially invasive diagnostic
testing. Symptoms due to GER are troublesome when they have an adverse
effect on the well-being of the pediatric patient. In regurgitating infants,
decreasing the amount of regurgitation is often seen by the parents as the
most welcomed intervention that physicians can provide. Many medications
have been attempted to overcome GER in infants, each with their own
advantages and limitations.
Keywords :
gastroesophageal reflux, infants, diagnosis, treatment.