[Oligosymptomatic sprue--report of 4 cases]

In the last 5 years we observed four cases of oligosymptomatic celiac disease. All patients presented isolated manifestations of malabsorption, but we did not find the typical symptoms of celiac disease, like diarrhea or steatorrhea. Three patients showed an iron deficiency anemia refractory to therapy and one patient a distinct osteomalacia with spontaneous bone fractures. In all these cases we were able to point out the typical microscopic feature and tissue antibodies of the celiac disease. Treating the patients with a gluten-free diet, the symptoms disappeared. These observations demonstrate the importance of the small bowel biopsy in cases of causative unknown isolated manifestations of malabsorption, which possibly belong to the celiac disease.