Small Intestinal Mucosal Damage with Villous Atrophy: A Review of the Literature

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Abstract
The clinical and experimental conditions associated with small intestinal villous atrophy and mucosal damage are reviewed in this paper. There are a few well-documented clinical conditions with absence or severe flattening of villi and mucosal damage that appear to be etiologically distinct from the more common causes of such damage, viz. celiac disease (childhood and adult) and tropical spruce. The true state of the villous structure may be misinterpreted if sections of the intestinal biopsy specimen are not cut in a plane perpendicular to the mucosal surface. For proper evaluation of the biopsy specimen one should be acquainted with both the exact site from which the biopsy was obtained and the recent therapy. It is concluded that severe (subtotal) villous atrophy may be seen in conditions other than celiac disease and tropical sprue.