The Brown Bowel Syndrome is so named because of the gross appearance of the intestines in advanced cases.
Synonym: intestinal lipofuscinosis
Pathophysiology: mitochondrial myopathy secondary to vitamin E deficiency that affects smooth muscle cells
Features:
(1) brown coloration to the intestines (in less severe cases may be "darker than normal")
(2) presence of malabsorption
(3) presence bowel dilatation due to hypotonia and/or atonia (poor contractility)
(4) presence of a large amount of brown lipofuscin pigment in the smooth muscle layers of the bowel wall and blood vessels
(5) vitamin E deficiency that is usually mixed with other nutritional deficiencies (moderate to severe malnutrition)
Correction of the vitamin E and nutritional deficiencies may result in partial but often not complete correction of the problem.
Differential diagnosis:
(1) melanosis coli (pigment is within macrophages in the lamina propria)
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Specialty: Gastroenterology, Nutrition