[Esophageal localizations of Crohn's disease]

Oesophageal localisations of Crohn's disease are perhaps not as rare as is classically supposed. The chance discovery of an oesophageal localisation of Crohn's disease led the authors to undertake routine study of the oesophagus in their last 18 patients suffering from the disorder. Each patient underwent endoscopic examination of the oesophagus with multiple biopsies. In 3 of them an oesophageal localisation of Crohn's disease could be demonstrated histologically with in addition, evidence of an epithelioid granuloma in 2 patients out of 3. The value of endoscopic biopsy thus appears to be certain in the diagnosis of this localisation, the influence of which on the course of the disease is not precisely known.