[Collagenous colitis. Clinicopathological study of 18 cases]. / Colitis colágena. Estudio clinicopatológico de 18 casos.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Collagenous colitis (CC) is an uncommon disease with a favorable prognosis. It is included in the group of chronic watery diarrheas. OBJECTIVE: To study epidemiological and clinical characteristics of CC, as well as its course and response to the treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a descriptive, retrospective study of the endoscopic colon biopsies performed in Hospital de León during 5 years. Those biopsies that fulfilled the histological criteria of CC were selected. RESULTS: A total of 18 cases with an incidence of 1.25/10(5) inhabitants/year was obtained. Mean age was 66.7 years. There was no difference between both genders. The period of time to diagnosis was long (10 months). A possible association with intake of some drugs, as non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (46%) and lansoprazole (42.8%), and smoking (41.6%), as well as autoimmune disease (30.7%) was found. There was a good response to the treatment with mesalazine in 2 of 3 patients who received this treatment. The clinical course was also favorable for the 2 patients treated with budesonide. CONCLUSION: It is important to take multiple biopsies of the colon in order to diagnose CC when there is a case of chronic watery diarrhea even when the colonoscopy is normal. Certain drugs and autoimmune diseases may be involved in the etiology.