Intestinal Lipodystrophy (Whipple's Disease)

Abstract

AUTHENTIC reports of intestinal lipodystrophy, first recognized and described by Whipple¹ in 1907, have appeared so infrequently since then that the disease may well be classed among the rarer entities. The original description noted, during a period of over five years, arthritis, weight loss, secondary anemia, cough, diarrhea, abdominal distention, ankle swelling, dyspnea and a palpable mass in the right lower abdominal quadrant, with autopsy findings of deposits of fat and fatty acids in the intestinal wall and mesenteric lymph nodes. The actual number of similar cases reported in the intervening years has varied because not all have conformed strictly . . .