[The clinical importance of "bamboo joint-like appearance" on upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for the diagnosis of Crohn's disease].

Upper gastrointestinal (GI) lesions are frequently reported in Crohn's disease, in which the entire GI tract is affected. In these cases, erosive fissures regularly transversing folds that are longitudinally aligned along the lesser curvature of the gastric body and cardia are described as having a "bamboo joint-like appearance". We designed a blinded experiment in which upper GI imaging without a final diagnosis was checked by three observers to determine the usefulness of the bamboo joint-like appearance in the diagnosis of Crohn's disease.