Antoni Leśniowski

Antoni Leśniowski (January 28, 1867–April 4, 1940) was a Polish surgeon, credited with publishing what may have been the earliest reports of the condition which later became known as Crohn’s disease.

He graduated in medicine from the University of Warsaw in 1890, and studied further in Berlin. From 1892-1912 he worked as a surgeon at the Infant Jesus Hospital in Warsaw, specialising in urology. Despite this, his most notable reports were on several cases of inflammatory bowel disease. On May 10 1903, "Medycyna", a weekly medical newspaper, published an article in which he described several cases of intestinal disease, concluding in at least one case: "we suspected a chronic inflammatory process in the wall of the gut." [cite journal
last = Lichtarowicz
first = A.M.
coauthors = Mayberry, J.F.
year = 1988
month = August
title = Antoni Lésniowski and his contribution to regional enteritis (Crohn's disease)
journal = Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
volume = 81
issue = 8
pages = 468–470
pmid = 3047387
url = http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1291720
accessdate = 2008-03-28 ] He wrote three further articles describing cases for the "Pamiętnik Towarzystwa Lekarskiego Warszawskiego" ("Annals of the Warsaw Medical Association") between 1903-1905, consistent with what is now known as Crohn's disease, although the evidence is not conclusive. [cite journal
author = K. Gibiński
year = 1989
month = April
title = Re: Antoni Leśniowski and his contribution to regional enteritis (Crohn's disease)
journal = Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
volume = 82
issue = 4
pages = 243
id = PMCID: PMC1292101
url = http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1292101
accessdate = 2008-03-28 ] In one of these articles, in 1904, he reported a meeting of the Warsaw Medical Society, at which he presented a surgical specimen of an inflammatory tumour of the terminal ileum with a fistula to the ascending colon. [cite journal
author = W. Bartnik
year = 2003
month = December
title = Inflammatory bowel disease - Polish contribution
journal = Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
volume = 54
issue = S3
pages = 205–210
publisher = Polish Physiological Society
location = Krakow
pmid = 15075474
url = http://www.jpp.krakow.pl/journal/archive/1203_s3/articles/14_article.html
accessdate = 2008-03-28 ]

The disease was described again in 1932 by American gastroenterologists Burrill Bernard Crohn, Leon Ginzburg and Gordon D. Oppenheimer, and since that time, due to the precedence of the name "Crohn" in the alphabet, it has been known in the worldwide literature as "Crohn’s disease". Only in Poland is it known as "Leśniowski-Crohn’s disease".

During 1912-1914, he was director of Warsaw’s St Anthony Hospital, then until 1919, was the head of the surgery department in the Holy Ghost Hospital in Warsaw. During 1919-1936, he was professor of surgery at the University of Warsaw. He also wrote a textbook of general surgery.

References