Crohn's Disease

Chronic granuloma of the small intestine was first described by Coombe and Saunders in I813. One hundred years later, Dalziel recognized a condition of chronic interstitial enteritis which was not tuberculous in origin. Regional ileitis, however, did not really come into prominence until 1932, when Crohn, Ginzburg, and Oppenheimer gave it this name, and it is now more popularly known as Crohn's disease. Their paper was so complete, that although the condition is now much more widely recognized, and there have been many long-term follow-ups recorded, little more has been added to our knowledge of the aetiology, diagnosis, and treatment. Definition. The term Crohn's disease iS-taken to include acute terminal ileitis, chronic regional ileitis, ileocolitis, regional colitis and jejunitis. It is convenient to separate acute terminal ileitis from the chronic forms of the disease. 'The acute form may regress completely or may progress to the chronic form, while the disease may manifest itself primarily as a chronic condition. Some Writers, notably Armitage and Wilson (i950), doubt that acute terminal ileitis is the same entity and state that ten acute cases, followed-up "by them, did not progress to the chronic phase. In the follow-up to be described in this paper, it will be seen that progression was not uncommon.