[Collagenous colitis and small intestinal villous atrophy: manifestations of the same disorder?].

We describe the case of a 64-year-old woman with a previous diagnosis of celiac sprue and no clinical or histological response to gluten withdrawal. The patient presented a history of longstanding recurrent watery diarrhea and was found to have collagenous colitis after further investigation of her diarrhea. Immunological study was incompatible with celiac disease and no other cause of villous atrophy was found. We suggest that this patient may have a separate disease entity unrelated to celiac sprue and consisting of a pan-intestinal inflammatory disorder characterized by the combination of a chronic inflammatory infiltrate in the small and lower bowel together with a subepithelial collagenous band in the colon.