Full thickness eosinophilia in oesophageal leiomyomatosis and idiopathic eosinophilic oesophagitis. A common allergic inflammatory profile?

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Abstract
Oesophageal leiomyomatosis and idiopathic eosinophilic oesophagitis are both extremely rare. The former is a diffuse proliferation of smooth muscle in the muscularis propria, whilst the latter is an idiopathic inflammatory condition, thought to be associated with background atopy and characterized by an infiltrate of eosinophils throughout the full thickness of the oesophagus. However, two recent cases of oesophageal leiomyomatosis showed similar full thickness infiltration of the oesophageal wall by eosinophils and this inflammatory cell infiltrate was investigated in conjunction with one case of idiopathic eosinophilic oesophagitis. All three had a similar allergic profile characterized by CD45RO‐positive primed T‐lymphocytes, EG2–positive (i.e., activated) eosinophils, and tryptase‐positive mast cells, together with gene expression for interleukin 4. Previous descriptions of leiomyomatosis describe an association with systemic mastocytosis and urticaria and the possibility that there is a common underlying allergic component to both disorders is raised. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.