A Very Rare Cause of a Relapsing Para-Oesophageal Abscess

Oesophageal involvement in Crohn’s disease (CD) is uncommon and most often accompanied by involvement of more distal parts. Its presentation is mostly non-specific, and therefore a diagnosis, especially in isolated oesophageal disease, is difficult. We present the case of a 42-year-old male patient...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Simon Peter Wespi, Remus Frei, Michael Christian Sulz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Karger Publishers 2016-04-01
Series:Case Reports in Gastroenterology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/445183
Description
Summary:Oesophageal involvement in Crohn’s disease (CD) is uncommon and most often accompanied by involvement of more distal parts. Its presentation is mostly non-specific, and therefore a diagnosis, especially in isolated oesophageal disease, is difficult. We present the case of a 42-year-old male patient who was referred to our gastroenterology department because of a para-oesophageal abscess. Under antibiotic treatment the abscess healed, but despite great diagnostic efforts, its aetiology remained unclear. Three years later the patient was hospitalized again because of an abscess at the same site. Endoscopy showed disseminated ulcerations of the lower oesophagus, raising suspicion of CD. After excluding other possible causes, we made the diagnosis of isolated CD of the oesophagus. We review the available literature on this topic and discuss the clinical presentation, symptoms, endoscopic findings, and histology as well as treatment of oesophageal CD.
ISSN:1662-0631