[Diarrhoea and malabsorption due to olmesartan use].

BACKGROUND

The differential diagnosis of diarrhoea in combination with villous atrophy is broad. Coeliac disease heads the list but medication-induced villous atrophy should also be taken into consideration.

CASE DESCRIPTION

We report the case of a 63-year-old man presenting with recurrent secretory diarrhoea, acute renal failure and metabolic acidosis. Initial work-up revealed total villous atrophy (Marsh stage IIIC) with intraepithelial lymphocytosis. A gluten-free diet did not have any effect on the diarrhoea. During several periods of hospitalization antihypertensive medications were temporarily stopped due to dehydration; this resulted in reduction of his symptoms. Eventually an association between the enteropathy and the antihypertensive olmesartan was suspected. Indeed, permanent withdrawal of olmesartan resulted in permanent clinical improvement.

CONCLUSION

Olmesartan is frequently prescribed in the Netherlands and it should be included in the differential diagnosis of diarrhoea accompanying villous atrophy.