ABSTRACT
Crohn 's disease is not a new clinical entity, although it was not until 1932 that Dr. Burrill B. Crohn and collaborators introduced the tenn regional ileitis for the disease to which Crohn's name was later given (1). There were, however, earlier reports. In 1913, a Scottish surgeon, KeMeth Dalziel, reported nine patients with a new entity described as "chronic intestinal enteritis and not tuberculosis" (2). In a retrospective study from Ireland, 29 cases of Crohn 's disease were identified in the latter half of the 19th century (3). Crohn 's disease also existed outside the British Isles at the beginning of the 20th century. In a retrospective study, we identified the earliest bona fide diagnosis of Crohn's disease in a 13-year-old patient who was operated on in 1918. A bypass procedure was performed because there was stenosis in the tenninal ileum and the surgeon dismissed the diagnosis of tuberculosis as highly unlikely. The patient was operated on again in 1969 with a resection, and the histopathological examination revealed changes typical for Crohn 's disease.
