Crohn Disease

Excerpt

Crohn disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are two conditions commonly referred to as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). They are immunologically mediated inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. In CD, the inflammation extends through the entire thickness of the bowel wall from the mucosa to the serosa. The disease runs a relapsing and remitting course. With multiple relapses, the CD can progress from initially mild to moderate inflammatory conditions to severe penetrating (fistulization) or stricturing disease.

Crohn disease can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract. About one-third of patients have small bowel involvement, especially the terminal ileum, another 20% have only colon involvement and about 50% have involvement of both the colon and small bowel. There is no cure and most patients experience bouts of remissions and relapse at unpredictable times. This disease leads to very poor quality of life.