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5.4: Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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    Inflammatory bowel disease refers to a number of inflammatory conditions in the intestine. The two most common are Crohn's Disease and ulcerative colitis. These two conditions differ mainly in the areas of the intestine that are affected. Crohn's disease can occur anywhere throughout the GI tract, but most commonly occurs in the last part of the ileum. Crohn's disease may also involve all layers of the intestine1. Ulcerative colitis are ulcers in the lining of the colon and/or rectum2. It is estimated that up to 1 million people have IBD in the United States. Half of these individuals have Crohn's disease, and the other half have ulcerative colitis3.

    The figure in the link below illustrates the differences between these two conditions.

    Web Links

    Ulcerative Colitis vs. Crohn’s Disease

    The exact causes of these two diseases is not known. One hypothesized cause is an overactive immune system (autoimmune response, the immune system attacks tissues/cells rather than pathogens) that results in the chronic inflammation and collateral damage to the cells of the intestine, resulting in formation of lesions.

    Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis present symptoms similar to other gastrointestinal diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome and GERD.

    ADAPT \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    References

    1. http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-info...ges/facts.aspx
    2. www.niddk.nih.gov/health-info...ges/facts.aspx
    3. http://www.ccfa.org/info/about/crohns

    This page titled 5.4: Inflammatory Bowel Disease is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Brian Lindshield via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.