Malathi Sathiyasekaran

Crohn’s disease presenting as palatal ulcer

Crohn’s disease (CD) in children younger than 5 years of age is termed as early onset inflammatory bowel disease (EO-IBD). We report a 4 yr 6 mo-old child with EO-IBD, who presented with palatal ulcer, an extra intestinal manifestation of Crohn’s disease as the dominant feature.

Crohn's disease.

Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract and is an important cause of morbidity in children and adolescents. In India Crohn’s disease (CD) was considered a rare disease, however, during the last 10 years CD in adults is being reported from several centers especially in Southern India. CD is characterized by transmural granulomatous inflammation involving any part of the gastrointestinal tract in a discontinuous manner. The peak incidence of Crohn’s disease occurs during the adolescent and young adult years. The clinical presentation and complications are varied and several extraintestinal manifestations have been recognized. The understanding of the pathophysiology has opened new avenues in the management. The recognition of this problem in children and adolescents by pediatricians is necessary for proper diagnosis and management.

Celiac disease, still an uncommon problem in Tamilians?

Since 2005, no published data on CD are available from South India.We examined the records of children attending the Gastroenterology Clinic of our hospital, which is a tertiary care pediatric hospital, between March 2006 and February 2009 with chronic diarrhea, unexplained growth retarda-tion with or without anemia, and normal serum IgA, and in whom IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody (IgA anti-tTG) was performed. During this period, 98 children (19 from North India) reported with chronic diarrhea and 27 required admission. Seventy-five children (76%) were tested for IgA anti-tTG and chronic diarrhea was the indica-tion in 72 (96%) children. IgA antibodies against tTG was detected using recombinant human tTG constituted with gliadin-specific peptide as the antigen (

Richner hanhart syndrome

Richner Hanhart syndrome is a rare inherited disorder involving the metabolism of tyrosine, a semi-essential amino acid, and it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a child presenting with ocular and skin lesions. We report a case of Richner Hanhart syndrome in a 19-month-old child, who presented with ocular and skin lesions.

Plummer–Vinson syndrome: an unusual cause of dysphagia

Abstract Plummer–Vinson syndrome, comprising a triad of dysphagia, iron deficiency anaemia and cricoid webs, is rarely reported in children. It is important to identify this condition not only to provide relief of symptoms by iron supplementation but also to include these children in surveillance programmes for oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Splenic abscess in typhoid fever

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Pancreatitis in Children.

Pancreatic disease in children has a wide clinical spectrum and may present as Acute pancreatitis (AP), Acute recurrent pancreatitis (ARP), Chronic pancreatitis (CP) and Pancreatic disease without pancreatitis. This article highlights the etiopathogenesis and management of pancreatitis in children along with clinical data from five tertiary care hospitals in south India [Chennai (3), Cochin and Pune].

Evaluation of chronic abdominal pain - A test of “patience”

A 4 year old girl with chronic abdominal pain of 6 months duration was provisionally diagnosed as eosinophilic gastroenteritis based on endoscopic biopsy This case is reported for its rarity.