EOSINOPHILIC GASTROENTERITIS IN A PATIENT WITH LARGE-CELL ANAPLASTIC LUNG-CARCINOMA - A PARANEOPLASTIC-SYNDROME

A 39-year-old man was hospitalized with abdominal pain and diarrhoea. The total eosinophil count was 11,800/dL; the jejunal biopsy showed di ffuse and patchy eosinophils and plasma cell infiltration of the lamin a propria; symptoms and hypereosinophilia disappeared after steroid th erapy. Two months later the symptoms reappeared together with left sup raclavicular lymphnode enlargement. The chest X-ray showed a mass with in the left lung apex. Lymph node biopsy showed metastases from large- cell anaplastic carcinoma. The possibility of eosinophilic gastroenter itis as a paraneoplastic manifestation is discussed.