Panenteric IBD-like disease in a patient with regressive autism shown for the first time by the wireless capsule enteroscopy: another piece in the jigsaw of this gut-brain syndrome?

Although the causes of autism are largely unknown, this life-long developmental disorder is now showing a strong increase of prevalence (1/500). Intestinal disease was first described in 1998 in these patients although there have been indications of impaired gastrointestinal function in the past. This disorder, comprising ileo-colonic lymphoid nodular hyperplasia and chronic inflammatory colonic disease, was called autistic enterocolitis; an association between autism and bowel disease was then proposed. More recently, a novel form of focal gastritis has also been described in these patients .