microscopic enteritis; clinical features and correlations with symptoms

aim : to assess the clinical characteristic of cd as well as correlation of symptoms and the degrees of intestinal mucosal lesions in iranian children. background : microscopic enteritis (marsh 0-ii) is associated with malabsorption. patients and methods : from august 2005 to september 2009, 111 cases with malabsorption and classical gastrointestinal symptoms were evaluated. results : the mean (±sd) age of children with cd was 4.9±3.5 years (range, 6 month - 16 years) and the mean duration of symptoms was 8 ± 20.5 months. 50 cases (45%) were female and 61 cases (55%) were male. the most common clinical presentation was failure to thrive in 72%, chronic diarrhea in 65.8% and iron deficiency anemia in 59.5%. sensitivity of ema was 100% in patients with marsh iiib and marsh iiic. ema was also positive in 77% of cases with marsh 0, 18% in marsh i, 44% in marsh ii and 81.8% in patients with marsh iiia. conclusion : histopathology did not reflect the severity of gluten sensitivity. this would suggest that the degree of intestinal mucosal damage might not be a reliable prognostic factor. significant symptoms can be present with minor histological change on biopsy.