The colon in shigellosis: serial colonoscopic appearances in Shigella dysenteriae I

Twenty-five patients (16 males and 9 females; mean age 24.7 +/- 8.4 years) with acute colitis caused by Shigella dysenteriae I were studied, a total of 115 colonoscopic examinations being performed. Twenty-two patients had weekly colonoscopic examinations until the last procedure revealed normal colonic mucosa. Six abnormal colonoscopic appearances were documented, namely mucosal edema, ulcers, friability, punctate spots, erythematous areas and luminal exudate. Mucosal edema was the dominant finding in the first week of the disease. Star-shaped mucosal ulcers and friability were observed in the 2nd and 3rd weeks of the disease. Punctate hemorrhagic spots with normal intervening mucosa in patients with minimal constitutional and colonic symptoms were the hallmark of the disease from the 4th week onwards. None of the patients revealed granularity, cobblestoning, linear fissures, pseudopolyps, pseudomembrane or anal lesions. The colonic involvement was subtotal in 20 patients and total in 5 patients. The mucosal disease was continuous in the initial stage and became patchy during the later stage of recovery. The mucosal disease lasted for 38.8 +/- 12.1 (10-65 days). All the patients followed-up by serial colonoscopy examinations eventually had normal colonic mucosa.