Collagenous colitis

Collagenous colitis is an inflammatorycolonicdisease with peak incidence in the 7th decade of life, affecting womenmore than men. Its clinical presentation involves watery diarrhea, usually in the absence of rectal bleeding. It is often classified under the umbrella entity microscopic colitis, along with a related condition, lymphocytic colitis.

Diagnosis

On colonoscopy, the mucosa of the colontypically looks normal, but biopsiesof affected tissue usually show deposition of collagenin the lamina propria, which is the area of connective tissuebetween colonic glands. Radiological tests, including barium enemasare typically normal.

Treatment

Treatment of collagenous colitis is often challenging, and many agents have been used therapeutically:

• Bismuthagents, including Pepto-Bismol
• 5-aminosalicylic acid
• Budesonide
• Immunosuppressants, including azathioprine
• Corticosteroids

Disease associations

An association between collagenous colitis and celiac diseasehas been reported, but there is no evidence that dietary restrictions used in celiac disease management are of benefit in collagenous colitis therapy.

There have also been reports of an association between collagenous colitis and lymphoma.

References

• Abstract of Cochrane Review on therapy
• Abstract of review on collagenous colitis

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collagenous+colitis Wikipedia article Collagenous colitis.