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Clinical features

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Many are patients are asymptomatic.

There are no specific symptoms for hiatus hernia. Clinical features, where present, may include:

  • gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD):
    • due to incompetence of the cardiac sphincter
    • 'heartburn' after meals that is made worse by stooping or lying down
    • studies in Western countries have reported that over half of patients (50% to 94%) with reflux esophagitis had concomitant hiatal hernias (prevalence of hiatal hernia in the control subjects were 13% to 59%)
  • regurgitation of food at night, leading to aspiration pneumonia
  • dysphagia
    • in part caused by reflux but also due to inefficient peristalsis resulting from movement of the hernia upwards as the oesophagus contracts
  • duodenal or gastric ulcer
  • Saint's triad - a sliding hiatus hernia is associated with gallstones and diverticular disease
  • nausea and vomiting are common in children but not in adults
  • waterbrash
  • children may present as failure to thrive, and with anaemia (1)

Reference:


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