Objective: To compare the gastrointestinal features of isosporiasis and strongyloidiasis.
Methods: Two patients with isosporiasis and three patients with strongyloidiasis were assessed by double-contrast radiography of the duodenum and small intestine, with reference to histology of the duodenal biopsy specimens.
Results: Both conditions affected the duodenum and the proximal jejunum, and showed similar radiographic changes as the diseases progressed. Thus, three patients with diarrhoea lasting 1 year or less showed only minimal or irregularly thickened mucosal folds, which seemed to result from mucosal inflammation. Two patients with long-standing disease periods (17 years and 30 years) presented a markedly granular mucosal appearance with effacement of the folds on radiography. These chronological differences in the radiographic features seemed to reflect the degree of villous atrophy.
Conclusion: Isosporiasis has similar radiographic features of strongyloidiasis.