Histological and enzymatic study of small intestine in patients with short stature of unknown etiology

ABSTRACT

Eleven patients with short stature [below the 3rd percentile in height] of undetermined cause and no gastrointestinal symptoms [group I GI] and six subjects with short stature and growth hormone deficiency [group II GII] underwent jejunal biopsy and estimation of intestinal disaccharidase activities [sucrase, maltase and lactase] for exclusion of intestinal damage as a cause of short stature. Jejunal biopsy was performed also in ten healthy age and sex matched controls. The controls were between the 30th and 70th percentile in height. Decreased intestinal lactase activity +/- diminished intestinal sucrase and maltase activities were found in 64 percent of cases in GI and in 33 percent of cases in GII. The altered enzyme activities were accompanied with mild, moderate or severe morphological lesions of the intestinal mucosa in 55 percent of the cases in GI and with mild lesion in the 33 percent of the cases in GII. We can conclude that short stature by itself in the complete absence of gastrointestinal tract symptoms and even in the presence of growth hormone deficiency is an indication for jejunal biopsy to exclude intestinal malabsorption as the primary etiology