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Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated enteropathy and is a rare disease in Asia, including in Korea. However, the ingestion of wheat products, which can act as a precipitating factor of CD, has increased rapidly. CD is a common cause of malabsorption, but many patients can present with various atypical manifestations as first presented symptoms, including anemia, osteopenia, infertility, and neurological symptoms. Thus, making a diagnosis is challenging. We report a case of CD that mimicked amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The patient was a sexagenary man with a history of progressive motor weakness for 2 years. He was highly suspected as having ALS. During evaluation of his neurological symptoms, esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) was performed because he had experienced loose stools and weight loss for the previous 7 months. On EGD, the duodenal mucosa appeared smooth. A biopsy revealed severe lymphoplasma cell infiltration with flattened villi. His serum endomysial antibody (immunoglobulin A) titer was 1:160 (reference, <1:40). Finally, he was diagnosed as having CD, and a gluten-free diet was immediately begun. At a 4-month follow-up, his weight and the quality of his stool had improved gradually, and the neurological manifestations had not progressed.
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Approximately one-third of patients with Crohn's disease do not respond to conventional treatments, and some experience significant adverse effects, such as serious infections and lymphoma, and many patients require surgery due to complications. Increasing evidence suggests that specific changes in the composition of gut microbiota, termed as dysbiosis, are a common feature in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Dysbiosis can lead to activation of the mucosal immune system, resulting in chronic inflammation and the development of mucosal lesions. Recently, fecal microbiota transplantation, aimed at modifying the composition of gut microbiota to overcome dysbiosis, has become a potential alternative therapeutic option for IBD. Herein, we present a patient with Crohn's colitis in whom biologic therapy failed previously, but clinical remission and endoscopic improvement was achieved after a single fecal microbiota transplantation infusion.
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