Crohn's disease presenting as life-threatening ileal bleeding

Abstract

We report a case of Crohn's disease in a 32-year old Saudi male. The disease presented with severe, life-threatening ileal bleeding necessitating an urgent laparotomy and 100 cm of ileum and ascending colon was resected. The bleeding source was several ulcers in an inflamed ileum and histopathologic examination revealed typical findings of Crohn's disease with a chronic, transmural inflammation, non-caseating granuloma and the Ziehl-Neelsen stain was negative. The postoperative course was uneventful. On follow-up he is doing well on medical treatment with mesalamine and substitution therapy with vitamin B12.