Symptoms Anatomy Crohn s disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract.
Inflammation extends all the way through the intestinal wall from mucosa to serosa.
Like ulcerative colitis, Crohn s disease is a relapsing and remitting disease. Initially only a small segment of the gastrointestinal tract may be involved, but Crohn s disease has the potential to progress extensively. Although surgical resection of inflamed segments may temporarily arrest symptoms, subsequent inflammation is likely to recur. Resection is not curative in Crohn s disease in contrast to ulcerative colitis, where colectomy eliminates the illness. The average age at diagnosis is 27 years.