CORTICOSTEROID-RESPONSIVE INTESTINAL LYMPHANGIECTASIA SECONDARY TO AN INFLAMMATORY PROCESS

PROTEIN-losing enteropathy can be associated with a disorder of the gastrointestinal lymphatics termed intestinal lymphangiectasia.1 The three patients with protein-losing enteropathy and abnormal intestinal lymphatics described below manifested findings differentiating them from patients with primary intestinal lymphangiectasia: elevated sedimentation rates, normal or slightly elevated immunoglobulin levels and variable features of inflammatory disease. Case Reports Case 1. A 22-year-old woman had facial edema, increasing abdominal girth and fatigue. Laboratory studies revealed an albumin of 1.3 g per deciliter, a sedimentation rate of 80 mm per hour, lymphocytopenia (count of 693 per cubic millimeter), normal immunoglobulin levels (Table 1), negative serologic test. © 1979, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.