Complications are lymphoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus, ulcerations and carcinoma. This is an example of a normal appearing small bowel with a normal villus pattern. You can see the nice glistening mucosa. When you look at that histologically, you get villi that are nice, normal. In patients with sprue, completely blunted.
Tropical sprue is a similar biopsy.
It s an infectious disorder. Treatment is typically with tetracycline. These patients are often folate deficient so you need to give them back folic acid. They may also be B12 deficiency. Lastly is Whipple s disease.