Does malabsorption occur in chronic atrophic duodenitis?

Absorption behavior was studied in 6 patients with chronic atrophic duodenitis and compared with that observed in 6 cases of untreated celiac disease. The histobioptic study of the duodenal and jejunal mucosa showed that in atrophic duodenitis the lesions involve just one or two duodenal portions with normal jejunal mucosa: in contrast it was confirmed that in celiac disease atrophic lesions extended from the duodenal to the jejunal mucosa. From the clinical point of view, patients with chronic atrophic duodenitis do not show evidence of malabsorption while such phenomena occur consistently, even though in varied form, in celiac disease. The possible reason for this clinical behavior seems to be linked to the different extention of the histological damage in the two diseases. In conclusion, chronic atrophic atrophic duodenitis is a clinically autonomous entity as compared with gluten enteropathy.