Abstract
Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of organic diseases, especially microscopic colitis, in biopsy-obtained tissue in patients with chronic diarrhea whose colonoscopy results were normal or showed faint or nonspecific findings.
Methods : We analyzed biopsy samples of the ascending colon, transverse colon and rectum taken from patients suffering from chronic diarrhea without bloody stools and/or without specific colonoscopic findings between November 2007 and February 2012.
Results : Of the 95 patients, 58 were male, and the average age was 47 years old. The results showed collagenous colitis in 6 patients (6.3%), human intestinal spirochetosis in 2 (2.1%) , non-specific colitis in 48 (50.5%) and normal in 39 patients (41.1%).
Conclusion : We identified collagenous colitis or human intestinal spirochetosis in 8.4% of patients having chronic diarrhea with almost normal colonoscopic findings. Therefore, histologic examination of colonic mucosal biopsies is necessary to establish a diagnosis of chronic diarrhea.
