Joint affections in regional ileitis.

IN A STUDY of 676 patients with nonspecific ileitis, Crohn and Yarnis1reported 16 cases in which arthritis usually involved the larger joints and one case in which it affected the cervical spine. Joint involvement in regional ileitis was also reported by Cornell2and Van Patter et al.3The latter encountered polyarthritis, involving particularly the joints of the extremities without resultant incapacitation in 4.5% of 600 cases of regional ileitis. This complication has been discussed almost invariably under a common heading with arthritic manifestations in ulcerative colitis.4,5Van Patter et al3assert that regional ileitis is probably associated with a type of arthritis similar to that in ulcerative colitis. Whereas it is possible that similar articular changes occur in both intestinal diseases, the small number of published joint complications1-3in regional enteritis warrants a separate report of new observations. Material Five patients suffering from