Gastrointestinal presentation of Churg Strauss syndrome

Abstract

Gastrointestinal involvement is frequent in patients with Churg Strauss Syndrome: clinical symptoms (abdominal pain, diarrhea or bleeding) range from 44 to 89%, pathologic involvement of the bowel from 33 to 92%, and gastrointestinal death (bleeding or perforation), described in 8% of cases, is the fourth leading cause of death after heart, CNS and renal failure. In spite of this wide-spread digestive involvement, gastrointestinal presentation has never been described. We present a 56 year old man with Churg Strauss Syndrome, where eosinophilia, diarrhea and gastrointestinal bleeding appeared three years before asthma. This is probably the first description of gastrointestinal presentation of Churg Strauss Syndrome.