Clinical settings in pseudomembranous colitis.

Renewed interest in pseudomembranous colitis (PMC) has occurred in recent years due to an increased incidence following the introduction of the antibiotics clindamycin and lincomycin. However, the disease was well known before the antibiotic era. In this paper the histopathological features are reemphasised and the similarity to early amoebic colitis is stressed. From a background of 32 patients, some unusual clinical settings are described. These consist of an association with renal transplantation; the demonstration of the lesion on the mucosal surface of rectal polypi and metaplastic bladder mucosa; its occurrence in an area of isolated ileum presenting as a "blind loop syndrome"; and examples suggesting that this disease can exist for quite long periods of time or may recur several times in the same patient.