Crohn's Disease In Western Medicine Research Progress

Crohn's disease (CD), whose cause is not unknown, is a chronic, inflammatory and granulomatous condition of the gastrointestinal tract clinically characterized by stomachache, diarrhea, abdominal mass, fistulization and bowel obstruction, possibly accompanying with fever, anemia, nutritional disturbance or extraintestinal impairment in joints, skin, eyes, oral mucosa or liver; for most patients, it is a protracted disease and recurrent attacks can be observed. Because of the unknown cause, up to now there is no complete healing treatment. Several decades ago, the tendency of CD's incidence and prevalence rate in European and North American countries was going up; but in 1980s, it became stable and the attack rate in each year was 34～106/100,000. In America, the total number of CD patients was about 50,000 to 100,000 plus 5,000～10,000 new patients each year. There was a lack of exact epidemiological data about CD in China. In the past, it was believed that CD was rare in domestic; but in recent years there are a few reports in some places and it is said that the disease rate is increasing.In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), there is no certain disease that is totally corresponding to CD; yet its symptoms are similar with some diseases recorded by doctors in ancient times such as stomachache, diarrhea, abdominal mass or hemafecia. According to TCM, its onset is closely related to the attack of exogenous pathogenic factors, improper diet and overtiredness, internal injury caused by emotions or deficiency of spleen and stomach; the treatment based on syndrome differentiation is of good curative effect; and lots of precious experience has been accumulated through the ancient medical literature record, which served as reference for theoretical study, and experience of famous veteran doctors of TCM, which served as reference for clinical practice. However, because of small number of clinical cases, lock of follow-up and standardized diagnostic criteria, and names for CD in TCM in a mass, the further research of TCM on CD was confined.With the comprehension of the review on the research advance of both TCM and modern medicine, according to the CD's cause, pathogenesis, pathological changes, clinical manifestation and treatment, the author believed that significant curative effect could be achieved by treating CD as abscess of internal organs. If the understanding of TCM to CD could be standardized, it would provide good conditions for the further research on CD.