Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction related to viral infections

Chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIPO), one of the most severe gastrointestinal motility disorders, is a condition characterized by a clinical picture mimicking small bowel occlusion with related symptoms and signs in the absence of demonstrable mechanical obstruction. Analysis of full-thickness biopsy samples may unravel structural changes of the neuromuscular layer involving the whole gut, although the midgut is usually worst affected. Intestinal pseudo-obstruction can occur in association with systemic neurological, endocrine, and connective tissue diseases or malignancy but, when no recognizable etiology is found, CIPO is referred to as idiopathic (CIIPO). The latter form can be diagnosed early in life due to a genetic etiology or in adulthood when a viral origin may be considered. This review addresses the hypothesis that some systemic neurotrophic viral infections can affect the enteric nervous system thereby altering normal peristaltic activity. Available data are reviewed, focusing specifically on herpesviruses or polyomaviruses (JC virus). These suggest that in comparison to a proportion of CIIPO patients, healthy controls rarely harbor viral DNA in the myenteric plexus, leaving open the possibility that a viral infection might have an etiologic role in the development of CIIPO. The review thus provides some new perspectives in the pathophysiology and perhaps targeted treatment of CIIPO.