Abstract
A 51 year-old female was admitted to our hospital because of severe watery diarrhea and loss of appetite, On admission, she had alopecia, skin pigmentation and onychodystrophy. X-ray and endoscopic examinations of the gastrointestinal tract showed generalized or multiple polyposis of the stomach, duodenum and colon. Biopsy study of the gastric polyps revealed hyperplasia, cystic dilatation of the glands and edematous changes of the interstitium. Diagnosis of Cronkhite-Canada syndrome was consequently made. Although hypoalbuminemia was present, protein-losing gastroenteropathy was not found by Gordon's test. On the basis of hospitalization with intravenous hyperalimentation and palliative treatments, she was closely followed up for a month, without any improvement of clinical manifestations. Prednisolone 40mg per day was given afterward in the course of 6 months hospitalization. Her ectodermal abnormalities gradually improved. Polyposis of the stomach apparently decreased in number, and polyposis of the colon almost disappeared. In comparison of gastrointestinal angiographic studies before and after the treatment, enlarged size of the inferior mesenteric artery was found in the former and it returned to normal size in the latter. This is the predonine-effective case of Cronkhite-Canada syndrome.
