Eosinophilic gastroenteritis presenting as an acute abdomen with ascites - A case report and review of the literature

• Autor(a) principal: Carvalho Mendes, António
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Ponte, Alcina, Pereira, Amália, Gonçalves, Morna
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://revista.spmi.pt/index.php/rpmi/article/view/1925
• topic: gastroenterite eosinofilica; ascite eosinofilica; eosinofilia; abdómen agudo; eosinophilic gastroenteritis; eosinophilic ascites; eosinophilia; acute abdomen

A clinicai case-report of eosinophilic gastroenteritis, in a 36-year-old man, admitted for a 2º episode of incomplete abdominal obstruction in 2 years, is presented. As well as the clinicai picture of epigastric burning, cramping abdominal pain and vomiting the patient had an eosinophilic ascitis and eosinophilia was present on the full blood count. There was no history of allergy. Endoscopic and Japaroscopic biopsies revealed intense eosinophilic infiltration involving both serosa] and muscular layers and a mild eosinophilic in.iltration of the intestinal mucosa. There was no evidence of intestinal parasitosis. A short course of oral steroids was started and there was an impressive improvement of symptoms and resolution of ascites within a week. This case shows (1) a rare disease, (2) a non-surgical cause of acute abdominal pain of obscure origin, (3) the chronicity and relapsing character of the disease, and (4) the efficacy of short course steroids. We review the literature focusing on new aspects of eosinophil pathogenesis and the interface with idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome.