A clinicopathological study of acute colitis: the dilemma of transient colitis syndrome.

In a 5-year clinicopathological study of acute colitis involving 238 adults, 42 patients were found to have 'transient colitis syndrome'. This is a term we have developed to describe those patients who have a short-duration self-limiting acute colitis of abrupt onset and negative bacteriology and which does not recur. Analysis of clinical features suggests an infective aetiology for most cases of transient colitis syndrome. The histology varied from changes of infective colitis to that of inflammatory bowel disease. It is likely that many patients who are now enjoying permanent remission after a single attack of 'inflammatory bowel disease' had this transient colitis syndrome.