Microvillous atrophy

Microvillous atrophy, also known as microvillous inclusion disease,^[1] is a rare disorder of the small intestine that causes chronic and severe watery intractable diarrhoea in new-born infants, starting in the first few days of life.^[2] It is nearly always fatal unless treated with parenteral nutrition or an intestinal transplant.^[2] It is caused by a congenital lack of apical microvilli in the epithelial cells of the small intestine.^[3] It cannot be diagnosed in utero; diagnosis requires a biopsy of sections of the intestine.^[1]

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