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EUPSA/ERNICA
GERD - (GastroEsophageal) REFLUX (Disease) in Esophageal Atresia Patients: An ERNICA animation
Chapter 1 of 6 · Fundamentals
EA and GERD
Introduction to Esophageal Atresia and GERD
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Host summaries · secondary, not cited in answers
Educational content from recorded physician discussions — not medical advice. Talk to your (or your child's) care team about your situation.
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What the experts said
Esophageal atresia is a rare birth defect where a part of the esophagus, the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach, is missing.
All patients born with esophageal atresia should be treated at a specialist center with a multidisciplinary team.
Patients with esophageal atresia may experience gastroesophageal reflux disease at points throughout their life after their esophagus has been surgically repaired.
Gastroesophageal reflux is a physiological condition common in infants where food and acid from the stomach flows back into the esophagus.
Gastroesophageal reflux becomes a disease when troublesome symptoms and or complications are experienced.
Reflux can accidentally enter the airway and the lungs, known as aspiration, and it can lead to irritation and lung infections.
Gastroesophageal reflux may irritate the inside wall of the esophagus, particularly the area where the esophagus was repaired during surgery.
In children with gastroesophageal reflux, milk or food comes back up into the mouth without effort after feeding.
Children with GERD may find it difficult to gain weight and have frequent lung infections.
For some children, the esophagus may narrow in the area where surgery was performed to repair it.
Some children with GERD show no external signs at all.
Follow up care for esophageal atresia patients should be both lifelong and structured.
Proton pump inhibitors work by blocking and reducing the production of stomach acid.
With PPI treatment, contents of the stomach still rise up to the mouth, but there is less stomach acid and therefore less irritation.
Fundoplication is a surgical procedure that aims to tighten the valve at the top of the stomach to stop stomach acid from rising up.
If PPI medication is reduced or stopped, this should be done under the guidance of the child's clinical team.
A 24 hour pH study measures the amount and strength of acid reflux in the esophagus over a 24 hour period using a thin tube inserted through the nostril into the esophagus.
An impedance study can be performed at the same time as pH study and measures non-acidic reflux in the esophagus.