Reflux occurs when contents taken into the stomach are regurgitated back up through the gastrointestinal system. GERD damages the esophagus. It also contributes to asthma and pulmonary fibrosis. Virtually all children with HIE have reflux. When our kids reflux, even if it is silent, they run a much higher risk of aspiration pneumonia than a typically developing child would.
Aspiration pneumonia occurs when the stomach contents go back down the wrong way, into the lungs.
Since HIE kids have weak or nonexistent suck, swallow, and gag reflexes, reflux is very dangerous to them. The four areas are use of a gastrojejunal tube, medications, surgery, and positioning . This type of tube protrudes farther into the GI tract than a regular Gtube or Gbutton, past the stomach. This should lessen the incidence of reflux. However, some studies have shown that it does not lessen aspiration .