Case Report
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World J Gastroenterol. Jul 14, 2013; 19(26): 4252-4256
Published online Jul 14, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i26.4252
Microscopic colitis: Is it a spectrum of inflammatory bowel disease?
Ramprasad Jegadeesan, Xiuli Liu, Mangesh R Pagadala, Norma Gutierrez, Mujtaba Butt, Udayakumar Navaneethan
Ramprasad Jegadeesan, Mangesh R Pagadala, Norma Gutierrez, Mujtaba Butt, Udayakumar Navaneethan, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Digestive Disease Institute, Desk A30, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH 44195, United States
Xiuli Liu, Department of Pathology, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH 44195, United States
Author contributions: Jegadeesan R and Navaneethan U designed research; Jegadeesan R, Pagadala MR, Gutierrez N and Butt M performed research; Liu X contributed to re-evaluation of pathology slides; Jegadeesan R wrote the paper and Navaneethan U revised the paper.
Correspondence to: Udayakumar Navaneethan, MD, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Digestive Disease Institute, Desk A30, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44195, United States. navaneu@ccf.org
Telephone: +1-216-4444880 Fax: +1-216-4446305
Received: April 4, 2013
Revised: May 4, 2013
Accepted: May 16, 2013
Published online: July 14, 2013
Core Tip

Core tip: Lymphocytic colitis (LC), together with collagenous colitis (CC) is a part of the spectrum of “microscopic colitis” (MC) characterized by profuse non-bloody watery diarrhea, without endoscopic or radiological lesions, but with histological abnormalities. The association between LC and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is weak and unclear. The case reports of CC progressing to ulcerative colitis (UC) and vice versa has been previously reported but however to our knowledge we report the first case series of six patients with chronic UC subsequently developing into CC or LC suggesting MC could be a part of the spectrum of IBD.