title: Protein-losing enteropathy with collagenous colitis.
abstract: Collagenous colitis is a distinct cause of chronic watery diarrhea characterized by abnormal deposition of collagen in the subepithelial region of the colonic mucosa. Typically, laboratory tests of blood, urine, and stool are normal. A few patients have laboratory evidence of small bowel dysfunction and malabsorption, but excessive enteric protein loss is not a commonly recognized manifestation of collagenous colitis. We report a 62-yr-old woman who had collagenous colitis associated with a marked protein-losing enteropathy in the absence of obvious small intestinal disease or colonic ulceration. Biopsies of endoscopically normal-appearing colonic mucosa should be performed in patients with protein-losing enteropathy in whom no cause is apparent after initial evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Batts
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Alexander
mesh_terms: D003092:Colitis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D003094:Collagen / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011504:Protein-Losing Enteropathies / Q000150:complications*
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen