been diagnosed in cases which were later diagnosed as itcld-gt perhaps because some patients with itcld-gt have histopathologic features (particularly the presence of granulomas)) that are characteristic of crohn's disease. awareness of itcld-gt and the histologic, clinical, and endoscopic differences between it and crohn's disease should point to the proper diagnosis. ulcerative colitis: rare wcases of itcld-gt appear to have been diagnosed as ulcerative colitis. awareness of itcld-gt and the histologic, clinical, and endoscopic differences between it and ulcerative colitis should point to the proper diagnosis. natural killer cell enteropathy (nkce): nkce is an indolent disease in which lymphocytes proliferate in the gi tract to cause lesions and symptoms that resemble itcld-gt. nkce differs from itcld-gt in that it: a) involves the proliferation of non-clonal nk cell rather than t cell lymphocytes; b) does now show evidence of mesenteric lymph node or other organ involvement; and c) does not progress to a malignant disease. treatment studies indicate that patients with itcld-gt should be treated conservatively. chemotherapy regimens directed at malignant lymphoma and treatment regimens used to treat celiac disease, crohn's disease, or ulcerative colitis have had little or no beneficial effects on the course of the disease. patients should be follow regularly with peripheral blood and bone marrow examinations, gi tract endoscopic examinations and pet scans in order to detect the progression of itcld-gt to a malignant phase. prognosis studies to date indicate that most patients experience a prolonged course of persistent or recovering-relapsing gi tract symptoms. a small percentage of patients have had spontaneous and sustained recoveries or progressed to a malignant lymphoma.