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Electron microscopy of rectal biopsies in HIV‐positive individuals
Author(s) -
Blanshard C.,
Ellis D. S.,
Tovey G.,
Gazzard B. G.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
the journal of pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.964
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1096-9896
pISSN - 0022-3417
DOI - 10.1002/path.1711690113
Subject(s) - asymptomatic , pathology , ultrastructure , medicine , diarrhea , electron microscope , gastroenterology , optics , physics
A series of 83 rectal biopsies was examined by electron microscopy (EM), 78 from HIV‐seropositive patients (64 with diarrhoea, 9 with weight loss, and 5 asymptomatic) and 5 from controls without risk factors for HIV infection. Although EM identified the likely cause of the diarrhoea in only nine cases, the majority of symptomatic HIV‐seropositive patients had abnormal biopsies including the presence of tubuloreticular structures, loss of microvilli, and oedema and disruption of autonomic nerves. Neuronal abnormalities were particularly common in patients with cryptosporidiosis, but no ultrastructural marker was specific to ‘pathogen‐negative’ diarrhoea.