Crohn’s Disease and the Melkersson‐Rosenthal Syndrome

Abstract

A 30-year-old woman with a 10-year history of recurrent bloody diarrhea and documented colitis of the descending colon, consistent with Crohn's disease, presented with an exacerbation of her gastrointestinal disease and an 18-month history of recurrent facial and genital swelling. Her course evolved to include severe ear pain, dysphagia and colonic dysmotility. She was diagnosed with Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome and treated with multiple agents. The neurological aspects of her presentation are highlighted, and the Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome is reviewed.

The Clustering of Other Chronic Inflammatory Diseases in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Population-Based Study

“…The ICD-9-CM coding of neuropathy includes non-immune-mediated neuropathies that might affect patients with IBD such as nutritional deficiencies and drug toxicity (particularly toxicity associated with metronidazole). 44 Despite this, using 5 health system contacts there was no association of neuropathy with either UC or Crohn's disease. There has been 1 report of an association with Crohn's disease and myasthenia gravis.…”

A clinical study on association between hearing loss and inflammatory bowel disease in a population attending a hospital

“…24 In addition, Ilnyckyj A et al report the case of a 30 year old woman diagnosed with CD disease and a subsequent diagnosis of Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome (recurrent facial paralysis, recurrent and eventually permanent facial edema, placation of the tongue), with severe ear pain. 25 Metastatic CD disease with involvement of the retroauricular areas has also been described by McCallum DI et al 26 Another interesting area of investigation is the presence of subclinical sensorineural hearing loss, especially in IBD patients. Akbayir N et al investigated 39 IBD patients using otoscopy, tympanometry, and pure tone audiometry.…”

Viruses and Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Is There Evidence for a Causal Association?

“…They have recently suggested specific causal criteria that must be fulfilled to accept a potential viral culprit of CD (5). It would have to be defined that a giant cell-inducing organism does not also cause, for instance, sarcoidosis, or Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome, disorders associated with segmental granulomatous intestinal inflammation, but dissimilar enough to CD by virtue of their extraintestinal manifestations (2, 8). Firstly, they propose that there must be enterotropism during the primary infection.…”