Toxic Dilatation of the Colon in a Case of Amebiasis

Abstract

TOXIC megacolon developing during the course of fulminating ulcerative colitis was first described in 1950 by Marshak and Lester.1 Five years later Lumb et al.2 reported 7 cases of "ulcerative colitis with dilatation of the colon." In 1959 Roth and his associates et al.3 coined the term "toxic megacolon." This expression was used to describe extreme dilatation of a segment of the colon or of the entire diseased colon that occurred during a fulminating phase of nonspecific ulcerative colitis. The authors stated that toxic megacolon might not be specific for ulcerative colitis and that it might occur in the violent . . .