Cryptosporidiosis of the stomach and small intestine in patients with AIDS.

Cryptosporidiosis is a parasitic disease of the gastrointestinal tract that causes a choleralike diarrhea in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Review of barium studies of the stomach and small intestine in 16 AIDS patients with cryptosporidiosis showed that the studies were abnormal in 13. Of these, five had moderate or marked prominence of the mucosal folds, and eight had slight prominence. The jejunum was predominantly involved in nine; the entire small intestine was uniformly affected in the other four. Three of the 16 patients had moderate or marked dilatation of the small intestine. One had marked dilution of the barium, and one had marked fragmentation and flocculation of the barium. There was narrowing and rigidity of the gastric antrum in two patients. These radiographic findings are nonspecific, but are indicative of cryptosporidiosis in a patient with AIDS and protracted diarrhea.