Coeliac crisis in adults: report of two cases.
Adult coeliac disease, in contrast to its childhood counterpart, almost always has an indolent course with a wider spectrum of clinical manifestations. Approximately half of the patients have no overt gastrointestinal symptoms and many are asymptomatic. A rare and life-threatening complication, affecting mainly children younger than 2 years of age, is the so-called coeliac crisis, a term that applies to profuse diarrhoea leading to dehydration, hypokalemia, and acidosis. We report here two cases of adult coeliac disease that presented as coeliac crisis. Coeliac disease should be a differential diagnosis in adult patients with severe acute diarrhoea and acidosis, although a rare presentation.
Ozaslan
Ersan
E
Division of Gastroenterology, Numune Education and Training Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. er72@hotmail.com
Köseoğlu
Tankut
T
Kayhan
Burçak
B
D000138:Acidosis / Q000209:etiology*; D000368:Aged; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000209:etiology*; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007008:Hypokalemia / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016896:Treatment Outcome