Non-inflammatory Bowel Disease Colitis

Abstract

This chapter discusses a wide array of non-inflammatory bowel disease-type colitides, and includes both distinctive patterns of inflammation and injury, as well as etiologically specific entities. Histologic overlap between these entities requires careful consideration of clinical setting and the use of special stains when appropriate. The goal of assessment and reporting should be to either indicate an etiology or enable the clinician further investigate the multiple differential diagnoses based on the histology. Histologic evaluation should always be performed with the understanding that in certain unusual cases, a pattern resembling “colitis” may mask an underlying neoplastic condition.