Observation of ulcerative colitis in children under the age of three

摘要

Ulcerative colitis is a rare autoimmune disease, which starts most often at the age of 12-14 years.Aim: To present the observation of ulcerative colitis in children of early age.Methods: Three children with ulcerative colitis before the age of 3 were observed for 2 years. Evaluation included clinical and laboratory methods, colonoscopy and histological examination of biopsy specimens of the large intestine.Results: All the children had diarrhoea from birth. Blood appeared in their stool for the first time at the age of 1.5-1.9 years. The duration of the disease before admittance to the clinic was 6-8 months. The children's condition was moderate; abdominal pains were absent. Observations included paleness of the skin, bulging of the stomach and hepatomegaly. The stool was liquid, mixed with up to 20-30 ml blood. The blood analysis showed: a decrease in haemoglobin, up to 66g/L, and iron, up to 5.5 (mu)mol/L, leucocytosis, up to 20 X 10~9/L, an increase in sedimentation rate, up to 20mm/h, and decrease in proteins, up to 50g/L.