Morphological and mucus secretion criteria for differential diagnosis of solitary ulcer syndrome and non-specific proctitis.

Over a four-year period 21 cases of solitary ulcer syndrome (SUS) were studied for their clinical, histological, and mucus secretion patterns and compared with histological and mucus secretion patterns of 78 cases of non-specific proctitis collected over the same period. Normal mucus composition was found in non-specific proctitis while abnormalities of mucins with predominance of sialomucins were associated with SUS. Although histology remains the most important investigation in the diagnosis of SUS, mucin changes provide valuable additional evidence.