[Neutropenic enterocolitis].

In three patients with neutropenia who had died after a short period from their basic disease (myelodysplasia, medullary carcinoma, acute myeloic leukaemia), autopsy revealed segmental necrotising enterocolitis in the caecal region (neutropenic enterocolitis). Morphologically the enterocolitis was characterised by necrotized mucosa, marked oedema of the intestinal wall, intramural gas, the absence of pseudomembranes and a nearly complete absence of inflammatory cell infiltrates. In one case a palpable abdominal tumour had been produced by pseudotumorous thickening of the intestinal wall. The pathogenesis in these three cases might be a neutropenia-associated disturbance of the intestinal flora with selective proliferation of toxin-producing clostridia.