Wallach's Interpretation of Diagnostic Tests: Pathways to Arriving at a Clinical Diagnosis (155 page)

This condition refers to the GI loss of plasma protein in abnormal amounts.

   Causes

   Secondary (i.e., disease states in which clinically significant protein-losing enteropathy may occur as a manifestation)

   Giant hypertrophy of gastric rugae (Ménétrier disease)

   Eosinophilic gastroenteritis

   Gastric neoplasms

   Infections (e.g., Whipple disease, bacterial overgrowth, enterocolitis, shigellosis, parasitic infestation, viral infections,
C. difficile
infection) (See relevant sections in Chapter
11
, Infectious Diseases)

   Nontropical sprue

   Inflammatory and neoplastic diseases of the small and large intestines, including UC, regional enteritis

   Constrictive pericarditis

   Immune diseases (e.g., SLE)

   Lymphatic obstruction (e.g., lymphoma, sarcoidosis, mesenteric TB)

   Primary (i.e., hypoproteinemia is the major clinical feature)

   Intestinal lymphangiectasia