Diseases of the colon and rectum
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Two young females with well-documented Crohn's disease and nonhealing perineal wounds following proctectomy compatible with "metastatic Crohn's disease" are described. We hypothesized that metastatic Crohn's disease would be a tumor necrosis factor-dependent inflammatory reaction and have treated these two patients with the anti-tumor necrosis factor chimeric monoclonal antibody, cA2. ⋯ These preliminary data are consistent with a tumor necrosis factor-dependent inflammatory cause of Crohn's disease and its extraintestinal manifestations and provide support for targeting tumor necrosis factor in this condition.