Crohn's disease: a review of 122 cases

One-hundred-and-twenty-two patients with Crohn's disease were admitted to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital from 1966 to 1977. Thirty-seven had disease confined to small bowel, 37 to colon and 48 had combined small and large bowel involvement. The disease was twice as common in females as in males. Pain was the major symptom in patients with small bowel disease and was associated with diarrhoea if both small and large bowel were involved. Disease confined to the colon most commonly produced diarrhoea with bleeding. Perianal disease occurred more often in patients with colonic disease. Systemic complications were also more frequent in the group with disease confined to colon, and these complications were often multiple. Medical treatment with corticosteroids, salazopyrine or azathioprine, was generally unsuccessful. One in two patients required surgery, usually in the form of resection. Following resection, recurrence occurrred in more than one half of the patients but was less frequent in those with colonic disease. Three-quarters of patients with a recurrence required a further resection, emphasising the unsatisfactory long-term results of surgery in this disease.