Where was Crohn's colitis in 1932?
Crohn's disease first received widespread recognition in the United States as a syndrome involving the terminal ileum in 1932. Within a few years it was recognized that the primary process could involve any part of the ileum and jejunum. It was not until 1965, however, that Crohn's colitis was recognized in the United States. There were many reasons for the delay of nearly 35 years: accounts documenting this affliction from the early part of this century were ignored and Crohn's colitis was confused with other diseases of the large intestine. More important, authorities in the field were skeptical that Crohn's disease involved the colon and failed to investigate fully that possibility. The belief that Crohn's disease stopped at the ileocecal valve was so entrenched in American medicine that after the British first documented Crohn's colitis in 1959, it took doctors in the United States another 6 years to believe it.
Levine
J
J
Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510.
D003092:Colitis / Q000266:history*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000266:history*; D004739:England; D049673:History, 20th Century; D009519:New York City