Clinical profile of amoebic colitis and its association with malabsorption.

ABSTRACT

Background: The amoebiasis is a very common problem of tropical countries like India. The association of malabsorption with amoebic colitis was studied in the present study from 1978 to 1980 in the tertiary care centre of Western Uttar Pradesh (India). Aims & Objective: The study was done with the aim of studying the clinical profile of chronic amoebic colitis and the incidence of malabsorption for fats, carbohydrates and proteins in cases of chronic amoebic infection of the intestine. Material and Methods: The study was carried out in 102 cases of chronic amoebic colitis and 25 age and sex matched controls. For the evidence of malabsorption, faecal fat excretion, D – Xylose excretion, total seum protein and albumin were estimated in all the cases. The patients who showed malabsorption were subjected to jejuna biopsy to know the histopathological findings. Results: Majority of cases (74%) were in the age groups of 21 – 40 years with decreasing incidence on either side. Pain in abdomen (98%) whether localised or diffuse was the commonest symptom followed by altered bowel habits (84%). Othe common symptoms were tenesmus (44%), increased gastro colic reflex (41%) and gaseous dyspepsia (19%). Among the physical signs palpable sigmoid colon was the commonest. Faecal fat excretion was less than 6gm/24 hours in majority (94.12%) of cases and malabsorption was found only in 5.88% of cases. D – Xylose excretion was more than 5 gm in majority (97.06%) and excretion less than 5 gm (malabsorption) was found in only 2.94% cases. Total serum proteins and albumin were between 6.1 to 7 gm and 3.1 to 4 gm respectively in majority (76.4% and 74.5%). Conclusion: Pain in abdomen was the most common symptom in amoebiasis. Amoebiasis does not cause significant malabsorption. Protein absorption was not affected much in amoebiasis.