[Crohn's disease and intestinal cancer. A report of 5 cases and review of the literature (author's transl)].

Until 1979 there were explored 192 surgical specimens from patients with Crohn's disease at the Institute of Pathology of the University of Hamburg. For the present study there was a follow-up examination of 161 specimens. Among these Crohn's specimens we found five (3.1%) simultaneously existing ("Crohn-associated") carcinomas with following localisation: 3 carcinomas of the distal small bowel by terminal ileitis resp. ileo-colitis, one carcinoma of the rectum by ileocolitis, and one carcinoma of the esophagus by terminal ileitis. Proceeding from these observations the relevant world literature was summarized and the relationship between the two diseases was discussed. Statistical calculations and local peculiarities may indicate that Crohn's disease of the small and large bowel has to be classified cancer risk disease. Carcinomas are not only developing from inflammatory bowel segments, they are also accumulated in pancreas, stomach and esophagus. It is not possible to make an exact statement about the real cancer quote because most of the published Crohn's carcinomas are not derived from epidemiological studies.