Clinical manifestations of food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To raise awareness among healthcare providers about the clinical and laboratory findings in acute and chronic food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES). RECENT FINDINGS: FPIES can be caused by trivial exposure or rare foods. SUMMARY: FPIES is a non-IgE-mediated reaction that usually presents with acute severe repetitive vomiting and diarrhea associated with lethargy, pallor, dehydration, and even hypovolemic shock. Manifestations resolve usually within 24-48 h of elimination of the causative food. In chronic cases, symptoms may include persistent diarrhea, poor weight gain, failure to thrive, and improvement may take several days after the food elimination. In the acute cases, laboratory evaluation may reveal thrombocytosis and neutrophilia, peaking about 6 h postingestion. Depending on the severity, metabolic acidosis and methemoglobinemia may occur. In chronic cases, anemia, hypoalbuminemia and eosinophilia may be seen. Radiologic evaluation or other procedures, such as endoscopy and gastric juice analysis may show nonspecific abnormal findings. The diagnosis is based on clinical manifestations. Further studies looking at the phenotypes of FPIES are needed to identify clinical subtypes, and to understand the predisposing factors for developing FPIES compared with immediate-type, IgE-mediated gastroenteropathies.

Food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome to trivial oral mucosal contact.

Food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES) is a non-immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated gastrointestinal food hypersensitivity, mostly in infants. Patients usually present very ill and often misdiagnosed as acute gastroenteritis, sepsis, ileus, metabolic disorders, necrotizing enterocolitis, or severe gastroesophageal reflux disease. We present a case of an infant who had three acute FPIES episodes: the first was at 5 months of age after chewing on a cellophane wrapper, the second was due to sweet potato, and the third was due to rice cereal. It was realized that in the first episode, the wrapper was covering a rice cake. Evaluation at 7 months of age, while asymptomatic, showed normal complete blood count, low serum immunoglobulin E level, and negative allergy skin prick tests, indicating non-IgE sensitivity. Conclusion This case of FPIES has peculiar features in that it occurred in an exclusively breastfed infant and by non-ingestant oral contact with a trivial quantity of rice allergen.