Background: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a curative therapy used to treat high-risk hematological malignant disorders and other life-threatening nonmalignant diseases. Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms post-HSCT might be due to GI graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) or GI infections or both. GI endoscopy with biopsies is safe and beneficial in guiding the management of GI symptoms in children after HSCT, justifying the therapeutic management and contributing to improved outcomes.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study including 16 children with malignant and nonmalignant diseases that underwent allogeneic HSCT who had 24 ileo-colonoscopies performed for GI symptoms. To facilitate an evidence-based approach to the endoscopic evaluation of GI symptoms in pediatric patients post HSCT, we examined whether a full ileo-colonoscopy, which includes right colon and terminal ileum (TI), as opposed to a limited sigmoidoscopy, was more accurate in the evaluation of GI symptoms in pediatric patients post HSCT.

Results: Specific findings on the right colon/TI were found in nine out of 24 ileo-colonoscopies (38%, CI = 19%-59%). The macroscopic findings on ileo-colonoscopy were compared with the histopathologic findings. When macroscopic findings were present, there were matching histopathologic findings in 100% of cases. However, even in the absence of any macroscopic findings on ileo-colonoscopy, there were histopathological findings in 29% of the cases (p-value = .016).

Conclusions: This cohort favors ileo-colonoscopy over sigmoidoscopy, with systematic biopsy sampling, in evaluating GI symptoms in pediatric patients post HSCT.

Keywords: gastro-intestinal symptoms; graft-versus-host disease; hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; ileo-colonoscopy; sigmoidoscopy.

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