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Syphilitic proctitis
Juliana F Yang1, Lan Peng1, Ali A Siddiqui1
1Division of Digestive and Liver Disease (Yang, Mayorga) and the Department of Pathology (Peng), the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; and the Division of Digestive and Liver Disease, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Siddiqui).
Abstract:
Syphilitic proctitis is a rare disease that usually presents as proctitis, ulcer, and neoplasm but lacks pathognomonic clinical symptoms. It is thus difficult to diagnose and may be treated inappropriately. We report a 31-year-old man who had a hard, ulcerated mass that occupied the rectal and sigmoid colon wall and mimicked a tumor. Fortunately, a biopsy of the mass demonstrated Treponema pallidum organisms consistent with syphilitic proctitis. The patient was successfully treated with intravenous benzyl penicillin, resulting in improvement in his proctitis.