Colitis

Excerpt

Colitis is inflammation of the mucosal lining of the colon which may be acute or chronic. Colitis is common and increasing in prevalence worldwide. Patients with colitis present with watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, tenesmus, urgency, fever, tiredness, and blood in the stool. However, colitis has different types and results from several mechanisms including infection, autoimmunity, ischemia, and drugs. Also, it may occur secondary to immune deficiency disorders or secondary to exposure to radiation. Because the clinical presentation can be the same across different types of colitis, there is a need for a review presenting an approach to assess patients presenting with colitis. Searching the literature reveals that this area is deficient, and nearly most publications are focused on one aspect of colitis or are disease-based articles. This review discusses the etiology, epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical presentation, evaluation, differential diagnosis, complications and management of patients with colitis.