TY - JOUR T1 - Eosinophilic oesophagitis: an insidious but treatable cause of sore throat JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 91 LP - 92 DO - 10.3399/bjgp17X689341 VL - 67 IS - 655 AU - Carla J Swift AU - John Ong Y1 - 2017/02/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/67/655/91.abstract N2 - Sore throat is a common presentation to general practice and national guidelines are available to aid in the management of acute cases.1 Chronic cases of sore throats, however, can pose diagnostic and management dilemmas for many GPs because clinical guidelines are lacking and routine investigations may be normal. Here we describe a previously unreported presentation of eosinophilic oesophagitis (EO) as a cause of chronic sore throat and demonstrate the importance of serial oesophageal biopsies and food allergy testing in patients with chronic symptoms. EO does not affect mortality but untreated disease can cause oesophageal stricturing.A 46-year-old male with no significant past medical history presents to his GP with a sore throat, made worse on swallowing, for a month. Physical examination was normal, and the patient was reassured that it was a viral infection and his symptoms should resolve with lozenges. A month later, he re-presents with ongoing symptoms. The GP, suspecting gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, prescribes a 2-month course of proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) but it made no difference to his symptoms. A referral was made to the ear, nose, and throat clinic where transnasal oesophagoscopy and routine blood tests were completely normal. A diagnosis of globus pharyngeus was made and the patient was reassured then discharged back to the care of his GP.Symptoms persisted for several months and the patient was referred to a gastroenterology clinic but later discharged due to the lack of gastrointestinal symptoms. Seven months after initial presentation, he developed pooling of saliva due to severe odynophagia. The GP refers the patient for an urgent oesophago-gastro-duodenoscopy (OGD), which was reported … ER -