The history of surgery for Crohn's disease at The Mount Sinai Hospital

Almost certainly, the physicians and surgeons of The Mount Sinai Hospital cared for patients with inflammatory bowel disease prior to 1932. However, the accepted beginning of the surgery of granulomatous inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and Crohn's disease (CD) at our institution occurred when the landmark paper by Crohn, Ginzburg, and Oppenheimer was published in 1932. As a major referral center for patients with both medical and surgical complications of IBD, the surgical service has had a long and abiding interest in the disease. This review highlights the major contributions of our staff to the management of this illness over the past 67 years. Despite major innovations in both medical and surgical management of patients with Crohn's disease, individuals suffering from this condition are ideally managed by a multidisciplinary team.