Eosinophilic Granuloma of the Ileum

Abstract

Interest in eosinophilic infiltrations of the gastrointestinal tract dates back to 1937, when Kaijser¹first reported three cases. However, it was not until 1949 that Vanek²reported six cases occurring in the stomach and established this condition as a clinicalpathological entity. He originally described the lesion as consisting of connective tissue composed of mesenchymal elements ( fibroblasts and loosely arranged collagenous fibers), infiltration with eosinophils and lymphocytes, and proliferation of arterioles and lymph capillaries. For lack of a better name, he called this lesion "gastric submucosal granuloma with eosinophilic infiltration," to be distinguished as a separate entity from the eosinophilic granuloma of bone, in which the basal cells are reticulum cells and histiocytes, rather than fibroblasts, and the eosinophilic infiltration is focal, rather than diffuse, as in the lesions described by him. Since that time numerous similar gastrointestinal-tract lesions have been observed and reported by many authors, and a