నైరూప్య

Pseudotumoral Crohn?s disease in an elderly patient.

Selem Bouomrani, Nessrine Belgacem, Safa Trabelsi, Najla Lassoued, Hassen Ba

Crohn's disease is a very rare inflammatory cryptogenic bowel disease in the elderly and its pseudotumoral form is exceptional. We herein report a case of a pseudotumoral presentation mimicking colon cancer in an elderly patient of 75 years without significant medical history which was explored for bloody diarrhea. Colonoscopy and CT scan concluded in the presence of an ulcerated tumor of the right colon without distant metastases. The patient was operated with the diagnosis of colon cancer but histological examination showed very inflammatory ileal and colonic mucosa with many aphthous ulcers, and chronic granulation but without malignancy. Subsequent endoscopic explorations with biopsies confirmed the diagnosis of ileocecal Crohn's disease. The patient was treated with systemic corticosteroids and azathioprine with favorable outcome. At five years follow-up now, evolution is still favorable.