Like many diseases, Crohns disease is named after the man who discovered this particular illness. It was a particularly devastating form of inflammatory bowel disease, and one that had not been seen before. In 1932, Burrill Bernard Crohn published a paper with two of his colleagues, Dr. Gordon Oppenheimer and Dr. Leon Ginzburg, outlining the symptoms of the sickness and what they had discovered through the research of more than 14 cases.
Crohns, as it became known, was essentially a condition affecting primarily the large intestine. Patients afflicted with this disease would experience inflammation in the colon, rectum, stomach, and sometimes even the mouth. This swelling would usually be rather deep and difficult to treat, even with antibiotics. The possibility of the surgical removal of the colon offers some hope of relief but there is a strong chance that the symptoms will reoccur since the inflammation is not restricted to the larger intestine.
How Crohn became famous was mostly due to his last name starting with a “C.” When the findings made by him and his colleagues were published, they were done so in a paper called, “Regional Iletis: A New Clinical Entity.” This was the first time that the description of this condition had been published in a popular medical journal, and because his name came first alphabetically, this was how the disease was eventually named.
Crohn received a great deal of respect and admiration in the medical world for his discovery, and this allowed him to focus on his research and the treatment of patients who sought him out from all over the world for help with their bowel disorders. He was given the position of chief of the gastroenterology department at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York where he continued his work. Upon retirement, and perhaps because he became tired of all the attention he had received during his working life, he became a recluse and moved to Connecticut where he cut off most communication with the outside world.
Crohn may have passed on, but his theories and findings continue to be used and looked at when researching IBS. Before he died, he had been frustrated by not being able to prove a connection between his disease and a similar one that affected cattle, called Johne’s disease. He would surely be happy to know that technology has now shown that there is indeed a similarity between a pathogen found in both illnesses. His dedicated work has led to a number of treatments that have helped people with their bowel problems.
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