Eosinofiele oesofagitis

Conflict of interest: none declared. Financial support: A.J. Bredenoord has received a VENI grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development.

• Oesophageal dysphagia is the subjective feeling that there is a problem with the passage of solids or liquids through the oesophagus.

• The differential diagnosis of dysphagia is long and can be divided into mechanical and motility disorders.

• Dysphagia is an alarming symptom which requires short-term endoscopic evaluation.

• An emerging cause of dysphagia is eosinophilic oesophagitis.

• The typical eosinophilic oesophagitis patient is a young adult man, often with an atopic constitution, who has intermittent symptoms of dysphagia.

• The diagnosis of ‘eosinophilic oesophagitis’ is based on characteristic histological findings in the oesophagus, seen in a fitting clinical context.

• Best evidence for the effects of treatment of eosinophilic oesophagitis is available for topical glucocorticoids.