```
Yang Ping thought he had grasped a clue, and Dr. Chen asked, "Have you found something?"
Yang Ping pointed to a clear, magnified shot on the video and said, "Look, there's slight atrophy of the intestinal villi. Without any other cause, I suspect it's autoimmune enteritis affecting the smooth muscle of the intestines, but I'm not sure at this point. Shall we take a look at the pathology slides?"
Autoimmune enteritis affecting smooth muscle—Dr. Chen hadn't considered this condition, as all tests hadn't shown any significant abnormalities.
After Yang Ping's suggestion, Dr. Chen went back to examine the colonoscopy video, indeed noticing mild atrophy of the villi in the small intestine. However, this wasn't particularly unusual or specific. The patient frequently experienced diarrhea and malabsorption of nutrients in the small intestine, indicating degeneration in its absorptive function, so it was normal for the villi to degenerate too, giving no specific indication.
