Eosinophilic enteritis is a
rare disease characterized by tissue
eosinophilia, which can affect different layers of bowel wall. Normally, the disease presents as colicky
abdominal pain, and rarely as an acute
intestinal obstruction or perforation. In this paper, we report a case of
eosinophilic enteritis, hitherto unreported, presenting as an ileal obstruction, and followed by jejunal
bleeding, which was visualized by
capsule endoscopy. A 62-year-old man received a 15 cm single segmental ileal resection at a point 50 cm from the IC valve due to symptoms of obstruction, which were diagnosed as
eosinophilic enteritis. Seventeen days after operation, intermittent
abdominal pain occurred again, and subsided upon 30 mg per day treatment with
prednisolone. Fourteen days after this
pain attack, the patient exhibited
hematochezia, in spite of continuous
prednisolone treatment.
Capsule endoscopy showed fresh blood spurting from the mid-to-distal jejunum, in the absence of any mass or
ulcer. This
hematochezia rapidly disappeared following a high-dose
steroid injection, suggesting it was a manifestation of jejunal
eosinophilic enteritis.