This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Sign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

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:

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.