Ulcerative colitis associated enteritis: is ulcerative colitis always confined to the colon?

Abstract

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the colon whose etiology is unknown. Small bowel involvement in UC is extraordinarily rare, and should make the clinician question the diagnosis. However, we present a case of a 38-year-old man with voluminous diarrhea following colectomy for well-documented UC; he was found to have ulcerative enteritis with histologic features identical to UC. Also, for the first time, we present an inclusive review of another 11 cases of UC associated enteritis (UCAE) reported in the literature, and discuss the significance of the entity. We conclude that UC is rarely accompanied by enteritis that is distinct from Crohn disease, frequently presents shortly after colectomy, and usually is responsive to traditional therapies for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).