Morphological Diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease
The characteristic feature of Crohn’s disease is an inflammation of a limited intestine area, which is associated with the formation of ulcers and scarring in the intestine and alterations of other organs and systems. The aim of the study — to examine morphological changes of stenosing, inflammatory and penetrating forms of terminal ileitis for treatment results improvement. Materials and methods. We conducted histological examination of removed intestine parts in 37 patients with a diagnosis of terminal ileitis. Inflammatory Crohn’s disease was diagnosed in 23 (62.2 %) cases, stenosing one — in 8 (21.6 %), penetrating one — in 4 (16.2 %). Results and discussion. Transmural nature of the inflammation of Crohn’s disease is well seen in resection specimens. In case of deep biopsy with taking the muscle layer of the colonic mucosa we observed the submucosa alteration — sclerosis and inflammatory cell infiltration. In the majority of Crohn’s disease cases we can see the normal crypts architecture with the preservation precryptal myofibroblasts of visible cells, that distinguishes the process from ulcerative colitis. Thus, the non-uniformity of the inflammation severity in the colon mucosa indicates to the diagnosis of Crohn’s disease. Conclusions. The presence of granulomas or severe diffuse infiltration of the mucosa by macrophages associated with the pathogenesis particularities of Crohn’s disease is one of the histological signs of the disease.