Brown bowel syndrome occurring in coeliac disease in the west of Ireland

Connolly CE, Kennedy M, Stevens FM, McCarthy CF. Brown bowel syndrome occurring in coeliac disease in the west of Ireland. Scand J Gastroenterol 1994;29:91-94. Brown bowel syndrome is the name applied to a brown discoloration of the intestine. This is due to lipofuscin deposition in intestinal smooth muscle and occurs in association with malabsorption. Three cases occurring in a coeliac registry of 559 patients are described. One patient presented with acute massive bleeding per rectum, and two were diagnosed at autopsy. The syndrome may be accompanied by vitamin E deficiency and neurologic dysfunction. Two patients had evidence of peripheral neuropathy, and one had low vitamin E levels. Concomitant vitamin D deficiency was present. Fat-solubie vitamin malabsorption, especially if there is a poor response to a gluten-free diet or neuropathy, might alert the clinician to the possibility of brown-bowel syndrome and suggests careful search for lipofuscin in biopsy material, using special histologic techniques.