Intractable diarrhoea in infancy: a continuing challenge for the paediatric gastroenterologist

Intractable diarrhoea of infancy is a syndrome of severe chronic diarrhoea, associated with malnutrition, which is not easily resolved by conventional management. Application of small bowel biopsy and colonoscopy with biopsy to children with this syndrome has identified specific entities, such as autoimmune enteropathy and microvillus atrophy. There remains a group of children with unexplained small intestinal enteropathy and idiopathic enterocolitis who pose a considerable problem for diagnosis and management.