All issues > Volume 41(9); 1998

Case Report

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1998;41(9):1293-1298. Published online September 15, 1998.

A Case of Congenital Intestinal Lymphangiectasia

Pan Joo PJ Lim¹, Jae Ock JO Park¹, Dong Hwan DH Lee¹, Sang Mann SM Shin¹, Dong Won DW Ki²

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Soonchunhyang University, Seoul, Korea
²Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Soonchunhyang University, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence Pan Joo PJ Lim ,Email: 1

Abstract

Intestinal lymphangiectasia is a primary or secondary disorder of lymphatics which is associated with protein-losing enteropathy, hypoalbuminemia, edema, abdominal distension and growth failure. The patients with this disease lose albumin, immunoglobulins, and lymphocytes through the bowel. We have experienced one case of intestinal lymphangiectasia in 8 month-old boy, whose chief complaint was abdominal distension and watery diarrhea. He had hypoalbuminemia(1.7gm/dl). The diagnosis of intestinal lymphangiectasia was confirmed by endoscopic jejunal biopsy. Pretibial pitting edema improved after medium chain triglyceride feeding. A brief review with related literatures is also presented.

Keywords :Intestinal lymphangiectasia, Jejunal biopsy