CROHNS-DISEASE OF THE SMALL-INTESTINE WITH POLYPOID CONFIGURATION

We describe three patients with Crohn's disease of the small intestine with a polypoid configuration. In two patients, the polypoid masses were the only radiologic abnormalities and were suggestive of jejunoileal lymphoma and terminal ileal adenomas. The diagnosis of Crohn's disease was established only at laparotomy. In the third patient, a polypoid mass simulating a sessile adenoma was seen along with other typical features of ileitis and was recognized preoperatively as a manifestation of the ileitis. The resected ileal segments of all three patients showed mural thickening, luminal narrowing and distortion, and mucosal ulceration and fissuring. The asymmetry of the mural thickening and the resultant luminal narrowing simulated sessile polyps to which mucosal ulceration and fissuring gave a lobulated appearance. © 1991 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.