Whipple's disease
| Whipple's disease | |
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| light microscopy of small intestine;Whipples Disease: enlarged villus with abundant macrophages | |
| ICD-10 | K90.8 |
| ICD-9 | 040.2 |
| DiseasesDB | 14124 |
| MedlinePlus | 000209 |
| MeSH | D008061 |
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Whipple's disease Microchapters |
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Diagnosis |
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Treatment |
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Case Studies |
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Whipple's disease On the Web |
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American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Whipple's disease |
For patient information click here
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
When recognized and treated, Whipple's disease can usually be cured with long-term antibiotic therapy; untreated the disease is ultimately fatal.
Mnemonics
W H I P P L E S
- Weight Loss
- Hyperpigmentation of the skin
- Infection with Tropheryma whipplei
- PAS positive granules in macrophage
- Polyarthritis
- Lymphadenopathy
- Enteric Involvement
- Steatorrhea
Symptoms
Diagnosis
Common clinical signs and symptoms of Whipple's disease include weight loss, diarrhea, joint pain or arthritis, fever, and adenopathy. Diagnosis is made by intestinal biopsy, which reveals presence of the organism as PAS-positive macrophage inclusions. Immunohistochemical staining for antibodies against T. whipplei has been used to detect the organism in a variety if tissues, and a confirmatory PCR-based assay is also available.
Endoscopy of the duodenum and jejunum can reveal pale yellow shaggy mucosa with erythematous eroded patches in patients with classic intestinal Whipple's disease, and small bowel X-rays may show some thickened folds.
Treatment
References
External links
Template:Gastroenterology
de:Morbus Whipple
it:Morbo di Whipple
nl:Ziekte van Whipple
sv:Whipples sjukdom