Diagnosis of Whipple's disease by rectal biopsy.

Abstract

A CASE of Whipple's disease has recently been studied in which the first tissue containing the periodic-acidSchiff-(PAS)-positive mononuclear cells characteristic of this disease was obtained by biopsy of the rectal mucosa. Other aspects of this case have previously been reported.1 In Whipple's2 original case the foamy macrophages, now known to be identical to the granular PAS-positive cells, were described only in the small intestine and mesenteric lymph nodes. A number of articles later called attention to the presence of these cells in peripheral lymph nodes,3 , 4 and in a recent study of 5 autopsied cases the PAS-positive macrophages were found in . . .