Collagenous gastritis: a rare etiology of anemia in children. Report of two cases.

When a child presents a severe anemia or resistant to iron supplementation, an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy has to be realized to find special cau ses. Case reports. - We report observations of two patients, respectively 11 and 12 years old, who were admitted to hospital for a severe microcytic, hypoc hromic, aregenerative anemia (hemoglobin less than 50 g/L) due to an iron d eficiency. The two children's history did not reveal a deficient diet, gast rointestinal tract disorder, ingested toxic or gastrotoxic drugs, or exteri orized hemorrhage. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed a macroscopic pa ttern of gastritis. The stomach biopsies revealed subepithelial collagenous deposits. Conclusion. - The collagenous gastritis involves lesions similar to those d escribed in the small intestine (collagenous sprue) and colon (collagenous colitis). The pathogenic factors of the three entities are presently unknow n, but they are often associated with autoimmune pathology. These two obser vations are the third and the fourth pediatric cases described. (C) 2001 Ed itions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.