CROHN'S DISEASE AND EXTRAINTESTINAL GRANULOMATOUS LESIONS

Abstract

Crohn's disease (CD) is an inflammatory bowel disease with a multifactorial etiology. Clinical features include mucosal erosion, diarrhea, weight loss and other complications such as formation of granuloma. in CD, granuloma is a non-neoplastic epithelioid lesio, formed by a compact aggregate of histiocytes with the absence of a central necrosis, however, the correlation amomg CD and the formation of granulomas is unknown. Many casesof granulomas in the extracellular site, related to Cd, have been reported in the literature. These granulomas, at times, rapresented the only visible manifestation of the pathology. extra intestinal granuloma have been found on ovaries, lungs, male genitalia, female genitalia, orofacial region and skin. From the data in the literature it could be hypothesized that there is a cross-reaction of the imune system with similar antigenic epitopes belonging to different sites. This hypothesis, if checked, can place CD not only among inflammatory bowel disease but also among inflammatory diseases with systemic involvement.