Pseudomembranous colitis complicating the natural course of Crohn´s disease in a pediatric patient

Abstract

Crohn's disease usually occurs in adults, at the average age of in between 33 and 39 years old, according to most studies; children are only exceptionally affected, the occurrence within this age group being between 0.6-6.8/100,000 children per year. The purpose of this article is to present the rapid evolution of a pseudomembranous colitis, probably with C.difficile-in a body with an early onset of Crohn's disease (a child of 10 years old), clinically manifested through symptoms that mimicked a perforated acute appendicitis with an immune response previously unaffected by immunosuppressive/ immunomodulatory medication. This case is an argument to support the important role of disorders of the immune system response which is genetically determined in the etiopathogenesis of the diseases associated with the C.difficile infection in children with the severe, ileocolic form of Crohn's disease.

Small bowel adenocarcinoma arising in longstanding fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease

“…It is characterized by transmural ulcerative lesions that can cause complications such as strictures or fistulas. It is a disease that affects young people (15-30 years) but can also occur in children (2) or older ages, with equal incidence in women and men. CD is also associated with many extraintestinal manifestations, most triggered by an autoimmune mechanism, little elucidated.…”