A case of silicosis associated with Crohn's disease. Diagnostic and pathogenetic considerations.

A case of silicosis associated with Crohn's disease is reported. Symptoms, radiological and endoscopical findings suggested Crohn's disease in a man, who had worked as ceramist and in whom silicosis was diagnosed four years earlier. The authors, after presenting the clinical and diagnostic features of the patient, discuss the similarity of some pathogenetic features of the two diseases. They hypothesize a common pathogenetic immunological defect in the two diseases, probably caused by inhalation of silica.