Toxic Dilatation of the Colon in a Case of Amebiasis

Abstract

TOXIC megacolon developing during the course of fulminating ulcerative colitis was first described in 1950 by Marshak and Lester.¹ Five years later Lumb et al.² reported 7 cases of "ulcerative colitis with dilatation of the colon." In 1959 Roth and his associates et al.³ coined the term "toxic megacolon." This expression was used to describe extreme dilatation of a segment of the colon or of the entire diseased colon that occurred during a fulminating phase of nonspecific ulcerative colitis. The authors stated that toxic megacolon might not be specific for ulcerative colitis and that it might occur in the violent . . .