Can joint issues occur in crohn's disease without a known crohn's (intestinal) flare? i have crohn's disease and what led the physicians to that diagnosis was my chronic knee effusions. i was offically diagnosed with crohn's properly and was aggressibley

Often : Often times, the joint disease can serve as a "barometer" for underlying GI inflammation in patients with crohn's disease. There can be low-grade GI inflammation even without overt symptomatology. One cannot say with certainty, but i would be suspicious that you may, in fact, have some mild intestinal inflammation and you might want to check back in with your gastroenterologist for additional input on the subject.

If : If you have crohn disease and there is arthrtis as you describe it and with thiose abnormalities on the MRI . You have most probaly , the arthrtis associated with inflammatory bowel disease. A good choice for the treatment of the arthritis and the chrons is infliximab, a monoclonal antibody that blocks the receptos and the tnf factor that some how is responsible for the inflammation . Pt do very well with this theray , you should consult with you gastroenterologist abnd reumatologist regarding this medication.