Assessing the yield and safety of endoscopy in acute graft-vs-host disease after hematopoietic stem cell transplant

Table 4 Utility of biopsying various segments of the gastrointestinal tract in patients presenting with diarrhea, nausea/vomiting, and abdominal pain

Presenting symptom and biopsy location1	Histological evidence of GVHD in location, % (n)
Diarrhea (n = 144)
Upper GI tract	95.7 (67/70)
Esophagus	51.9 (14/27)
Stomach	82.1 (55/67)
Duodenum	87.1 (61/70)
Lower GI tract	99.1 (109/110)
Ileum	100.0 (2/2)
Cecum	100.0 (1/1)
Ascending colon	100.0 (4/4)
Transverse colon	75.0 (3/4)
Descending colon	91.7 (11/12)
Sigmoid colon	93.5 (101/108)
Rectum	94.0 (94/100)
Nausea/vomiting (n = 107)
Upper GI tract	97.5 (77/79)
Esophagus	51.6 (16/31)
Stomach	84.6 (66/78)
Duodenum	87.3 (69/79)
Lower GI tract	96.8 (60/62)
Ileum	-
Cecum	-
Ascending colon	-
Transverse colon	-
Descending colon	100.0 (6/6)
Sigmoid colon	90.2 (55/61)
Rectum	91.1 (51/56)
Abdominal pain (n = 50)
Upper GI tract	89.3 (25/28)
Esophagus	66.7 (8/12)
Stomach	89.3 (25/28)
Duodenum	85.7 (24/28)
Lower GI tract	96.8 (30/31)
Ileum	100.0 (1/1)
Cecum	100.0 (1/1)
Ascending colon	100.0 (2/2)
Transverse colon	100.0 (1/1)
Descending colon	100.0 (4/4)
Sigmoid colon	87.1 (27/31)
Rectum	86.7 (26/30)

¹Denominators represent all patients with presenting symptom, biopsy obtained from specified location in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and histological evidence of graft-vs-host disease in tissue obtained anywhere in the GI tract. GI: Gastrointestinal; GVHD: Graft-vs-host disease.