Does the location of inflammatory lesions in the gastrointestinal tract determine the clinical course of Crohn’s disease?

Abstract

Introduction: Crohn’s disease (CD) is a chronic, inflammatory bowel disease that can affect any part of the digestive system. The ileocecal region is most commonly involved. Recently, there have been reports about Crohn’s disease isolated to the colon, which may be associated with different clinical behaviour and the need for various treatment options. Material/Methods: The study included 305 patients with CD, 171 women (56%) and 134 men (44%), hospitalized at the Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital in Lodz. Among them, a group of 101 patients was identified with a lesion location only in the colon (L2) and 204 in the small intestine and colon (L1 and L3). An attempt was made to analyze patients with CD in terms of demographic data, clinical behavior of the disease and location of inflammatory lesions. Results: Among the features distinguishing the location of inflammatory lesions isolated to the colon (L2), statistically significantly less frequent occurrence of stenoses (21% at L2 location to 79% at L3, p <0.01) was observed compared to other locations. Moreover, patients with location of L2 lesions required surgery less frequently (27% with L2 vs. 73% L1 with L3, p <0.05). It was also demonstrated that among all the subjects, 42 patients underwent appendectomy before the diagnosis of CD, which constituted 19% of the L2 group patients to 81% of the L1 and L3 group (p <0.05). Conclusions: In CD there is a great diversity in the clinical behavior of the disease, which is undoubtedly related to its location. The obtained results indicate that in the group of patients with the location isolated to the colon, stenoses are less common and patients require surgery less frequently.