Frequent Occurrence of Perianal Disease and Granuloma Formation in Patients with Crohn’s Disease and Coexistent Orofacial Granulomatosis

Abstract

BackgroundOrofacial granulomatosis (OFG) is an inflammatory disorder of the perioral region and oral cavity. Crohn’s disease (CD) in conjunction with OFG (CD-OFG), has been suggested to constitute a phenotype of CD with distinct features at diagnosis.AimsThe aim of this project was to investigate whether the distinct phenotypic features of CD-OFG persist in the years following the initial diagnosis of CD.MethodsClinical data were extracted from medical records covering the first 5 years post-diagnosis for a cohort of patients with CD-OFG, and were compared to those of references with CD without OFG.ResultsThe clinical characteristics of our cohort of patients with CD-OFG (N = 25) were evaluated in comparison to references with CD without OFG (ratio 1:2). Five years post-diagnosis, more patients with CD-OFG had a phenotype with perianal disease (cumulative incidence: 16/25, 64% vs 13/50, 26%, P = 0.002) and intestinal granulomas (cumulative incidence: 22/25, 88% vs 24/50, 48%, P = 0.0009) than patients in the CD reference group. The patients with CD-OFG were also more likely to have undergone perianal surgery (12/25, 48% vs 4/50, 8%, P = 0.0002). At the end of the observation period, more of the patients with CD-OFG were receiving combination therapy, i.e., immunomodulators and tumor necrosis factor antagonists, than those in the CD reference group (9/25, 36% vs 5/50, 10%, P = 0.01).ConclusionThe results support the notion that CD in conjunction with OFG represents a specific phenotype of CD that is characterized by frequent perianal disease, pronounced intestinal granuloma formation and a need for extensive therapy.