Celiac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis and erosive jejunoileitis

A 21-year-old man with coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis presented successively with erosive ileitis (warranting surgical resection) and erosive jejunitis (proven by jejunoscopy). Discontinuous antibiotic therapy was associated with a gluten-free diet and evolution was favorable as judged with five years follow-up. Malabsorption with mucosal ulcerations can be due to: a) chronic ulcerative duodeno-jejuno-ileitis or Jeffries' disease; b) coeliac disease which may be classified as possible, probable, or certain according to the strictness of criteria. Our case is the fourth in which a villous response was proven after gluten-free diet. It is also particular in that the erosions were superficial; c) malignant lymphoma which can reasonably be excluded here. This observation confirms that a gluten-free diet may be effective after surgical resection of the ulcerated segment in complicated coeliac disease and shows that antibiotics may be an useful adjuvant to therapy.