Prevalence of lactase deficiency in adult Egyptian patients with non-alarming gastrointestinal complaints / Mohamed Kamal Eldin Mohamed ; Supervised Hanan Abdelhafez Hamed , Dina Sabry Abdelfattah , Ahmed Mohamed Khairy

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Tropical Medicine

Background:Lactose intolerance is a disease caused by deficiency of lactase enzyme in the GIT that results to symptoms such as abdominal distension, bloating, flatulence and diarrhea.Testing of lactase activity in mucosal biopsies from the duodenum is regarded as the reference standard for primary and secondary lactase deficiency. Aim: To assess the prevalence of lactase enzyme deficiency in the adult Egyptian patients complaining of non-alarming GIT symptoms such as non- specific abdominal pain, abdominal distension, diarrhea, flatulence and borborygmi. Methods:This is a cross sectional study conducted on 75 patients who came to the GIT endoscopy unit complaining of abdominal pain, abdominal distension, bloating or diarrhea. Uppergastroendoscopy was done, endoscopic biopsies were taken from the second duodenal part and biochemical assessment of the lactase enzyme in these biopsies were done. Results:The study showed that about 86.67% of patients had mild hypolactasiacompared to 13.33% who had normal levels of lactase enzymeand no patients with severe hypolactasia were found depending on the values of lactase enzyme in duodenal biopsies evidenced in the literature. Conclusion:Assessment of lactase enzyme in theendoscopic biopsies taken from the second duodenal part is a good diagnostic tool in diagnosis of lactose intolerance in adult people

Issued also as CD