1/3. Fatal intestinal pseudo-obstruction in brown bowel syndrome.A 52-year-old man, suffering for years from malabsorption due to endemic sprue, developed progressive bowel dysfunction, ie, recurrent ileus and intestinal pseudo-obstruction. Because of partial volvulus formation, ileocecal resection was performed. Histopathologic examination of the resected specimen revealed signs of advanced brown bowel syndrome, with excessive deposits of ceroid-lipofuscin in, and a considerable loss of, smooth-muscle cells and myofibrils. The patient died after surgery, and at autopsy a systemic ceroid lipofuscinosis of smooth-muscle cells was detected. Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis was not observed. Serious and eventually fatal bowel dysfunction is rarely seen in brown bowel syndrome, but may occur in advanced stages. Since treatment with vitamin E appears to exert a favorable effect, early diagnosis of brown bowel syndrome seems to be very important.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = sprue (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/3. Chronic enterocyte infection with coronavirus. One possible cause of the syndrome of tropical sprue?A man with a gastrojejunostomy and intestinal malabsorption was found to be excreting large numbers of coronavirus-like particles in his stools over a period of at least eight months. coronavirus-like particles were found in vesicles in degenerating jejunal enterocytes in all of five jejunal biopsies. In a review of electron micrographs, similar structures were found in biopsies from three of 12 patients with classical chronic tropical sprue and in one patient with a sprue-like syndrome associated with agammaglobulinaemia. The hypothesis is advanced that infection with this virus may produce enterocyte damage and may be one cause of the syndrome of tropical sprue.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 7keywords = sprue (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/3. The brown bowel syndrome and gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma. Two complications of vitamin e deficiency in celiac sprue and chronic pancreatitis?The brown bowel syndrome is a rare disorder caused by vitamin e deficiency occurring in malabsorption syndromes. In patients with celiac sprue and chronic pancreatitis, the death rate from malignancy is high. We believe that vitamin e deficiency is responsible for the development of the brown bowel syndrome and may be partially responsible for the high incidence of malignancy in patients with celiac sprue and chronic pancreatitis. We report such a patient, and review the literature.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 6keywords = sprue (Clic here for more details about this article) |