Whipple’s disease is a chronic multisystem disorder caused by infection with the rod-shaped bacterium, Tropheryma whippelii. We report the case of a 65-year-old woman with intestinal Whipple s disease that had been...Whipple’s disease is a chronic multisystem disorder caused by infection with the rod-shaped bacterium, Tropheryma whippelii. We report the case of a 65-year-old woman with intestinal Whipple s disease that had been refractory to monotherapy with a number of antibiotics over a 2-year period. The patient then presented with watery diarrhoea, cachexia (body mass index 18 kg/m2) and chronic anaemia (haemoglobin 7.6g/dl). Wireless capsule endoscopy showed that the disease affected the entire small intestine. Focal occult areas of bleeding were observed in different parts of the jejunum. The capsule s transit time through the small intestine was 2 hours 43 minutes.Capsule endoscopy allows novel insights into the pathophysiology of Whipple s diseases.展开更多
文摘Whipple’s disease is a chronic multisystem disorder caused by infection with the rod-shaped bacterium, Tropheryma whippelii. We report the case of a 65-year-old woman with intestinal Whipple s disease that had been refractory to monotherapy with a number of antibiotics over a 2-year period. The patient then presented with watery diarrhoea, cachexia (body mass index 18 kg/m2) and chronic anaemia (haemoglobin 7.6g/dl). Wireless capsule endoscopy showed that the disease affected the entire small intestine. Focal occult areas of bleeding were observed in different parts of the jejunum. The capsule s transit time through the small intestine was 2 hours 43 minutes.Capsule endoscopy allows novel insights into the pathophysiology of Whipple s diseases.