Early Epithelial Lesions in Crohn’s Disease, Revealed by Electron Microscopy

Although the pathology of Crohn’s disease [CD] is characterized by well-defined regions of gross inflammation, it has long been recognised that it is a widely disseminated disease of the gut. Brooke first described “aphthoid ulcers” in the mucosa of otherwise uninflamed intestine of CD in 1953 (1). Morson (2) found that these lesions consisted of lymphoid follicles that were involved in the granulomatous inflammation of CD with break-down and pin-point mucosal ulceration. Recently Dvorak (3) and Rickert et al. (4) have correlated these ulcers with their surface appearance by scanning electron microscopy, in addition pointing out the considerable enhancement of mucous secretion and the villous fusion in “unaffected” areas that can be observed using this technique.