OBJECTIVE: Upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy is an important diagnostic tool for many gastrointestinal symptoms. It has become a routine procedure of upper GI problems in children. The objective of this study was to describe characteristics, indication, common endscopic and histopathological findings in children.
METHODS: A descriptive study reviewed all children ? 18 years old who reffered for upper GI endoscopy procedure from January 2016 to December 2018 in Dr.Soetomo Academic General Hospital. Variables of the study were characteristics of the subject (age, gender), indication, common endoscopic and histopathological findings.
RESULTS: A total of 84 children were evaluated. About 54% were female and 57% were aged more than 10 years old. The major indications for doing upper GI endoscopy were 36% GI bleeding, 28% recurrent abdominal pain and 20% dyspepsia. Only one patient reffered due to sulfonic acid intoxication. Almost all patients had abnormal endoscopic findings (76/84), consist of 64% esophagogastroduodenitis followed by 12% esophageal varices and 9% gastroduodenal ulcer. Among all GI bleeding cases, 10/31 cases were esophageal varices and 4/31 cases were gastroduodenal ulcer. Histopathological examination were performed in 75 samples. The major histopathological findings were 86% chronic gastroduodenitis and 3 cases of Helicobacter pilory infection.
CONCLUSIONS: The most common indication for pediatric upper GI endoscopy was GI bleeding, endoscopic abnormality was esofagogastroduodenitis and histophatological findings was chronic gastroduodenitis.