Whipple's disease: a multisystem infection.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T M Bayless.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Diarrhea developed in three patients following cholecystectomy. Fecal bile-acid excretion was elevated in the two patients for whom it was measured. All three patients' diarrhea resolved with cholestyramine resin therapy. This experience suggests that gallbladder removal may lead to a bile-acid-mediated diarrhea in some patients, and that this condition appears to respond to cholestyramine therapy.
Age-related deficiencies in gastrointestinal function do occur, but the evidence suggests that their contribution to malabsorption syndromes is usually trivial. Symptoms of malabsorption in elderly patients therefore probably do not simply reflect "old age," but some underlying problem(s). An orderly approach to diagnosis, emphasizing disorders likely to be present in the geriatric population, can lead to effective treatment.
A father and son each presented with severe watery diarrhea. The son was found to have a pancreatic islet-cell tumor associated with the pancreatic cholera syndrome, as well as a parathyroid adenoma. The father was found to have multiple islet-cell adenomas and the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Pancreatic tumor tissue from each patient contained detectable gastrin and vasoactive intestinal peptide; however, a much higher gastrin concentration was found in the tumor tissue from the father and a much higher vasoactive intestinal peptide content in the tumor tissue from the son. Thus, watery diarrhea may be mediated by different hormones in families having multiple endocrine neoplasia; the precise cause of the diarrheal syndrome should be defined to ensure the proper therapy.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Lactose tolerance tests are used clinically to screen children and infants. It is assumed that absorption of a lactose challenge in infants would occur in a predictable pattern prior to weaning. Twenty-one infants from 3 to 12 months of age were studied. The maximum blood glucose rise over fasting levels ranged from 11.0 to 62.0 mg/100 ml; the mean was 32.6 mg/100 ml. Six infants had a maximum rise of less than 20 mg/100 ml. Eleven infants (52%) had a maximum rise of greater than 30 mg/100 ml. Signs of intolerance were not noted in any subject. Weight and length were normally disturbed. Results indicate the variance in glucose rise existing within a population of infants growing normally and consuming milk. Gastric emptying, digestion, and absorption may influence the blood glucose rise after a lactose test. Established glucose levels used as an index to lactose absorption in older children and adults may not accurately reflect lactase activity in infants.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
One hundred sixteen healthy black children ages 13 to 59 months, representing high and low socioeconomic deciles, were studied for lactose malabsorption. A fasting lactose tolerance test using 2 g of lactose/kg of body weight was carried out. Glucose was determined at 0, 15, 30, and 60 min. Of the 116 preschoolers 34 (29%) evidenced lactose malabsorption as determined by a blood glucose rise of less than 26 mg/100 ml. Clinical signs of diarrhea, gas, and cramps were noted singly or in combination in 18% of the 34 lactose-malabsorbing children. Of the 82 lactose absorbers, 12% demonstrated similar signs. The nature and length of the initial infant milk feeding failed to show any relationship to the onset of malabsorption. Current milk drinking patterns were reported as being similar. Eight-seven percent of the malabsorbers and 92% of the absorbers report drinking 240 ml or more of milk/day. Socioeconomic status, education, marital status, and medical assistance of the parent is similarly distributed between lactose absorbers and malabsorbers.
The therapy of Crohn's disease in adolescence must balance the natural disease history of growth suppression, debilitation, and progression against possible drug-related adverse effects on growth and development. In contrast to published guidelines which usually suggest episodic and symptomatic treatment of relapses, we have attempted to suppress disease activity throughout adolescence. Sixteen consecutive adolescent patients treated with continuous medical therapy for a mean duration of 3.5 years are presented. Fourteen received long term prednisone therapy for maintenance of disease suppression. All 16 have been asymptomatic or have had only mild symptoms which did not interfere with regular activities. Only 1 subject had to be rehospitalized. He subsequently underwent bowel surgery. Aternate day corticosteroid administration has been attained in 11 patients; 10 are growing and developing at a normal rate. In total, 13 of 16 have achieved pubertal development appropriate for age. The 8 patients with distal ileal disease have had a consistently excellent response to medical therapy. There have been no major adverse effects from drug therapy. It is concluded that an effort to suppress disease activity continuously in adolsecents with Crohn's disease is warranted. Excellent symptomatic control and normal rate of growth can be expected in patients with primarily ileal disease.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Evidence has been accumulating that except where dairying has been carried on for centuries, postweaning inability to digest milk is the norm for humans as well as other land mammals. Given the ethnic diversity of the U.S., there may well be 30 million Americans who cannot drink milk without developing symptoms and many instinctively learn to avoid it. A simple lactose tolerance test is described that establishes the diagnosis.
Four patients with Whipple's disease which had responded to antibiotic therapy, later developed neurologic disease identical to that seen in patients with Whipple's disease who died without treatment. Dementia, myoclonus, ataxia, and supranuclear ophthalmoplegia were the main neurologic features. Restarting antibiotics has been followed by stabilization of disease in all four. Two have improved. In three, the previously diagnosed and treated Whipple's disease was not considered as a possible cause of the neurologic disease until the symptoms and signs were far advanced. It is advisable to periodically evaluate all patients with Whipple's disease, even after successful treatment. Signs of neurologic disease should be considered a possible recurrence of Whipple's disease and antibiotics restarted.
Duodenoscopic examination of a patient with Whipple's disease revealed that the duodenal mucosa appeared to be partially covered with a yellow-white material. On closer inspection, however, this was found to consist of enlarged villi interspersed with normal-looking mucosa. Histologically these enlarged white villi were shown to contain a heavy accumulation of lipid and typical PAS positive macrophages. The duodenal mucosa was endoscopically normal and histologically showed only a few PAS positive macrophages one year after instituting antibiotic therapy.
Methylxanthines produce intracellular accumulation of cyclic 3'5'-AMP (cAMP) by inhibition of phosphodiesterase and mucosal cAMP accumulation. Cyclic AMP is thought to mediate small intestinal secretion caused by some enterotoxins, hormones, and methylxanthines. These studies were designed to evaluate the effect of caffeine on small intestinal net fluid movement and transit times. The administration of caffeine in amounts ordinarily contained in many beverages and medications (75 to 300 mg) resulted in striking net secretion in the jejunum which lasted at least 15 minutes. This occurred in six of seven studies. Baseline net absorption of 0.5 ml per cm per hr was reversed to net secretion of 6.0 +/- 2.2 ml per cm per hr after oral caffeine ingestion (P less than 0.01). Net secretion also occurred in the ileum in seven of eight studies, but the onset of secretion appeared 35 min later than in the jejunum. These patterns of secretion correlated best with the passage of the intestinal bolus of caffeine rather than plasma caffeine levels. In contrast to other net secretory conditions, which increase the speed of transit, small intestinal transit times, as determined by dye dilution methods, were unchanged by caffeine. It is possible that methylxanthine-induced small intestinal secretion may play a role in the symptoms experienced by some patients with functional diarrhea.