Other Neurologic Disorders Associated with Gastrointestinal Disease

Many gastrointestinal diseases have extraintestinal manifestations including neurologic involvement. Malabsorption, which can result from diseases that damage absorptive sites in the small intestine, such as inflammatory bowel disease and tropical sprue, or may develop following bariatric surgical procedures in which absorptive sites may be bypassed or removed, can result in vitamin and other nutrient deficiencies that produce neurologic dysfunction. Disease processes involving immunologic mechanisms, in which both the gastrointestinal and nervous systems are attacked, such as celiac disease, may also produce neurologic symptoms. Neurologic dysfunction in hepatic disease most often is the result of failure of the liver to adequately perform its detoxifying function, but in the case of fulminant hepatic failure cerebral edema is the life-threatening consequence. Prompt recognition of these disorders is vitally important, since many of the neurologic manifestations of gastrointestinal disease are treatable.