Increased gastric and intestinal permeability in patients with Crohn's disease.

Patients with Crohn's disease exhibit marked changes in intestinal permeability that can be assessed by lactulose and mannitol. Sucrose is a novel marker for gastric permeability. We combined these three sugars to investigate whether patients with Crohn's disease demonstrate changes in gastric permeability and if so, whether these changes are matched with altered intestinal permeability. Fifty patients with Crohn's disease and 30 healthy subjects each drank a solution containing 20 g of sucrose, 10 g of lactulose, and 5 g of mannitol. Patients' and subjects' 5-h sugar urinary excretion levels were determined by high performance liquid chromatography and an enzymatic method (sucrose). Furthermore, patients with Crohn's disease underwent endoscopy of the upper GI tract and were grouped according to endoscopic and histological findings. Patients with Crohn's disease showed higher gastric and intestinal permeability compared with healthy control subjects. Gastric permeability was correlated with intestinal permeability. Patients with granuloma had more pronounced changes in both gastric and intestinal permeability than patients with various endoscopic and histological lesions. Patients with normal mucosa had normal permeability. Alterations in gastric mucosa caused by Crohn's disease are reflected by changes in gastric permeability and can be used to noninvasively screen for Crohn's disease involvement of the upper GI tract.