title: Spontaneous umbilical fistula in Crohn's disease. Report of a case.
abstract: Spontaneous umbilical fistula in Crohn's disease is extremely rare, with very few reports found on a 15-year review of the medical literature. Among those reports, no patient had prior abdominal surgery. Attention was recently focused on this unique entity when spontaneous umbilical fistula was diagnosed in a 64-year-old anemic male mechanic with known ileocolic Crohn's disease. This fistula locus occurred despite a right lower quadrant appendectomy incision done 15 years earlier. Spontaneous umbilical fistula pathophysiology and pathways are reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of California Davis School of Medicine.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Burchell
mesh_terms: D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007412:Intestinal Fistula / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014472:Umbilicus