Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0024523 (malabsorption)
 7,319 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We report the case of a 63-year-old male hospitalised for chronic diarrhoea and weight loss of 11 kg within 2 years. The symptoms began after a trip to Thailand. Various investigations were negative and led to the assumption of tropical sprue, which was treated with tetracycline. Within 4 months the malabsorption deteriorated and the patient was readmitted with severe electrolyte imbalance. CT-scan of the abdomen revealed a thickened intestinal wall in the jejunum. Diagnostic laparotomy was performed and, surprisingly, revealed chylascites. Histology in a segment of the jejunum demonstrated intestinal lymphangiectasias as the cause of the malabsorption. These intestinal lymphangiectasias were most probably the sequela of radiotherapy 30 years earlier for testicular teratocarcinoma. Symptomatic therapy with middle chain triglycerides brought about substantially improvement.
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PMID:[Post-actinic jejunal lymphangiectasis: a rare case of malabsorption]. 1113 29

Till date only three series of immunoproliferative small intestinal disease (IPSID) describing 22 patients have been reported from India. Seven patients with IPSID in two tertiary referral centers in India are included in the study. Diagnosis was based on typical clinical features [diarrhoea (7/7), weight loss (7/7), clubbing (6/7), fever (3/7), abdominal pain and lump (3/7)], biochemical evidence of malabsorption and duodenal biopsy findings. All patients were young males (mean age 29.8 +/- 11.8 years, range 17-53). Atypical features included gastric involvement (1/7), colonic involvement (1/7) and appearance of pigmented nails following anti-cancer chemotherapy (1/7) which disappeared six months after omitting doxorubin from chemotherapy regimen. Parasitic infestation was common. Ascaris lumbricoides (1/7), Giardia lamblia and hookworm (1/7), Strongyloides stercoralis and Trichuris trichura (1/7). In the latter patient S. stercoralis became disseminated after anti-malignant chemotherapy. One patient had gastric H. pylori infection. Four of the seven patients who were misdiagnosed as tropical sprue were treated with tetracycline. This raises doubt on efficacy of tetracycline alone in treatment of IPSID. One other patient was misdiagnosed and treated as intestinal tuberculosis. Early diagnosis and administration of chemotherapy may improve survival in this disease.
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PMID:Is immunoproliferative small intestinal disease uncommon in India? 1139 37

A diagnosis of tropical sprue, an infrequent affliction of inhabitants and travelers in tropical regions, should be considered in patients with a compatible history, malabsorption, and chronic diarrhea. It can occur in either endemic or epidemic form and can be preceded by acute gastroenteritis. The cause of tropical sprue is still unknown, although most data support an infectious etiology. Therapeutic experience is greatest with folic acid and tetracycline. Most patients can be expected to recover with proper nutritional support, although relapses and slow responses occur.
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PMID:A perspective on tropical sprue. 1147 1

Tropical sprue is a malabsorption syndrome that responds to treatment with folic acid and a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Eighty years ago, prior to the identification of the vitamins and the discovery of penicillin, clinical trials often consisted of best guess treatments based upon current knowledge and available technology. Dietary interventions were emerging as effective treatments for alleviation of diseases such as pellagra and beri beri. Representative of his generation of clinicians, Bailey K. Ashford, MD, one of the pivotal figures in academic medicine in Puerto Rico, carried out dietary studies in his patients with tropical sprue. This historical retrospective presents an examination of the diets used by Ashford in terms of nutrient content and comparison to current recommended dietary allowances. Results show the diets to be inadequate for sustained nutrient value and especially low in folic acid. In summary, Ashford recognized the basic causes of tropical sprue but was unable to effectively treat the syndrome due to lack of adequate resources.
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PMID:Treatment of tropical sprue: the work of Dr. Bailey K. Ashford examined in retrospect. 1177 23

Tropical malabsorption remains an important clinical problem for both the indigenous population of tropical countries and for short-term visitors and longer-term residents from the industrialized world. In young children, persistent diarrhea and malabsorption can result in severe retardation of growth and development. The most common cause is an intestinal infection notably the small intestinal protozoa including Giardia intestinalis, Cryptosporidium parvum, Isospora belli, Cyclospora cayetanensis, and the microsporidia. Tropical sprue still remains an important diagnostic option but is less common than it was 20 to 30 years ago. It is important to attempt to make a specific microbiological diagnosis as this will influence the choice of antibiotic. However, if laboratory facilities are not available, it is possible to offer empirical therapy although this may involve a trial of more than one antibiotic.
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PMID:Tropical malabsorption. 1246 93

One of the important consequences of the infection-nutrition interaction is mediated by malabsorption associated with chronic inflammation in the intestine, enteritis. Studies made possible after development of the peroral intestinal biopsy technique in the 1950s indicated the wide prevalence of enteropathy, particularly in tropical developing countries with poor levels of sanitation. Some consider this so-called subclinical tropical malabsorption to be the base of an iceberg, whose tip is tropical sprue, a severe form of malabsorption leading to nutritional deficiency that had been reported in colonial expatriates in tropical countries for 200 y. Some of the first demonstrations of the prevalence of tropical enteritis in Asia were made in quest of the pathologic lesion of cholera, and further examination of the water and electrolyte, as well as nutrient, malabsorption in cholera led serendipitously to the discovery of the oral rehydration solution for the treatment of diarrheal disease.
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PMID:Tropical enteritis: nutritional consequences and connections with the riddle of cholera. 1251 21

Absorption of radioiodinated triolein was tested in 93 individuals (15 controls, 28 cases of functional diarrhea, and 50 patients with suspected or manifest malabsorption syndrome).The results so obtained were compared in 59 cases with estimations of fecal radioactivity and chemically determined fecalfat excretion. A highly significant correlation was found.The urinary xylose excretion test was performed in 96 individuals. The diagnostic value of the radioactive fat absorption test was compared with that of the xylose excretion test in 78 cases. Both tests were diagnostic in cases of non-tropical sprue, but the xylose excretion test reflected the clinical improvement more accurately in treated cases. The radioactive fat absorption test was more reliable in the diagnosis of malabsorption secondary to bowel resection than was the xylose excretion test, but the converse was true in the diagnosis of malabsorption secondary to gastrectomy. The simultaneous use of these two tests was found to be a simple and reliable screening procedure.
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PMID:A COMPARISON OF LABORATORY TESTS IN THE MALABSORPTION SYNDROME. 1411 82

Tropical sprue is a disease that causes progressive villus atrophy in the small intestine, similar to nontropical (celiac) sprue. The loss of intestinal villi profoundly affects intestinal absorptive function, and patients with tropical or nontropical sprue present with malabsorption. Whereas the etiology of celiac sprue has been elucidated in considerable detail, the etiology of tropical sprue remains obscure. The favored hypothesis is that the disease is either initiated or sustained by a still-undefined infection. Patients with tropical sprue typically present with macrocytic anemia due to malabsorption of folate and/or vitamin B(12). Treatment of tropical sprue with folic acid replacement was introduced more than 50 years ago and has become standard medical treatment. Vitamin B(12) replacement is usually added if there is evidence of B(12) deficiency or malabsorption. Treatment of tropical sprue with folate and B(12) cures the macrocytic anemia and the accompanying glossitis, and often results in increased appetite and weight gain. However, even prolonged treatment with these vitamins fails to restore villus atrophy, and malabsorption usually persists. The benefit of antibiotic treatment of tropical sprue was first documented during World War II, when sulfonamides were used to treat epidemics of tropical sprue in British and Italian troops in India. Antibiotic treatment has since become the standard treatment, and tetracycline has replaced sulfonamides. The recommended length of treatment with tetracycline is 6 months and it is given in combination with folate. The treatment has been shown to normalize mucosal structure in the small intestine and resolve malabsorption in most patients with tropical sprue. However, there is a substantial relapse rate in treated patients who return to, or remain in, endemic areas in the tropics.
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PMID:Tropical Sprue. 1472 33

The celiac disease was first described over one hundred years ago. English doctor S. Gee selected a syndrome characterized by growth inhibition, diarrheas and malabsorption disorders among the group of enteropathies in children in 1888. He assumed that the large intestine was affected in such cases. That is the reason why this disease was called celiac affection. C. Herter described a similar disease in 1908 and called it intestinal infantilism. Only as early as in 1950 Dutch pediatrician W. Dicke described the inability to uptake gluten (a component found in some herbs) as an important reason for chronic intestinal disease in children for the first time. Gluten enteropathy, intestinal infantilism, gluten intolerance, idiopathic steatorrhea, non-tropical sprue and Gee-Heubner-Herter disease are synonyms for celiac affection.
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PMID:[Clinical picture of celiac disease in children]. 1506 27

Tropical sprue (TS) is a postinfective tropical malabsorption that occurs in tropical countries. TS is associated with a persisting colonization of the small-intestine lumen by enterotoxinogenic bacteria that cause subsequent enterocyte damage affecting all or part of the small-intestine. We report two cases of TS that occurred in inhabitants of Paris area returned from endemic areas. The first observation concerned a 76-year old woman admitted for anorexia, loss of 20 kg and anemia. The second observation concerned a 53-year old man referred for chronic diarrhea and loss of 40 kg within 4 years. In both cases, duodenal lesions consisted of subtotal and total villous atrophy with prominent infiltration of the damaged surface epithelium with lymphocytes and infiltrate of lymphocytes and plasma cells of the lamina propria. The two patients recovered under antibiotics, confirming the diagnosis of TS.
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PMID:[Tropical sprue: two cases in the Paris area]. 1552 31


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