Sprue
Updates to Article Attributes
Sprue is the collective term for the malabsorptive gastrointestinal enteropathies although it may be used to refer directly to tropical sprue. It is composed of threetwo entities:
In each, the radiologic features are not sensitive enough to confirm an absolute diagnosis. However, they do help to characterise the disease process and point towards further investigation using UGIE with duodenal biopsy (gold standard).
Radiographic features
- small bowel dilatation (increasing with increasing severity of disease)
- stack of coins appearance
- duodenal nodular changes
- reversal of the ileojejunal fold pattern
- segmentation
- hypersecretion and mucosal atrophy (moulage sign)
- transient intussusception
Treatment and prognosis
With treatment of the underlying cause, the small bowel may return to normal and malabsorption ceases. Where there is longstanding, uncontrolled disease, there is an increased risk of small bowel lymphoma and carcinoma.
Associations have been made with other diseases. Dermatitis herpetiformis is associated with coeliac disease, especially when dietary control is not adhered to. Additionally, adenopathy and hyposplenism may be seen.
-<p><strong>Sprue</strong> is the collective term for the malabsorptive gastrointestinal enteropathies although it may be used to refer directly to tropical sprue. It is composed of three entities:</p><ul>-<li><a title="tropical sprue" href="/articles/tropical-sprue">tropical sprue</a></li>- +<p><strong>Sprue</strong> is the collective term for the malabsorptive gastrointestinal enteropathies although it may be used to refer directly to tropical sprue. It is composed of two entities:</p><ul>
- +<li><a href="/articles/tropical-sprue">tropical sprue</a></li>
-<a title="Non-tropical sprue" href="/articles/coeliac-disease-1">non-tropical sprue</a> / <a href="/articles/coeliac-disease-1">coeliac disease</a>- +<a href="/articles/coeliac-disease-1">non-tropical sprue</a> / <a href="/articles/coeliac-disease-1">coeliac disease</a>
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