Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A group of inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract consisting of Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis

Crohns Intestine Diagram.jpg

Cronh’s Disease:

Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract.

  • Can affect any part of the GI tract, but most commonly the end of the small bowel (ileum) and the beginning of the colon

  • Can affect the entire thickness of the bowel wall

  • Inflammation can “skip,” leaving normal areas in between patches of diseased intestine

Modified from https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/what-is-crohns-disease/overview

Ulcerative Colitis Intestine.jpg

Ulcerative Colitis:

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the colon, affecting the lining of the colon and causes small sores, or ulcers, to form. Those ulcers produce pus and mucous, which cause abdominal pain and the need to frequently empty your colon.

  • Only the colon, also called the large intestine, is affected

  • Affects only the innermost lining of the colon

  • Inflammation of the intestine does not “skip”

Modified from https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/what-is-ulcerative-colitis/overview

The biology behind IBD:

Current treatments for IBD:

  • First line therapy for mild and moderate cases are aminosalicylates, corticosteroids and small molecule immunomodulators (e.g., methotrexate)

  • Biologics are usually used to treat moderate and severe cases or are used as combination therapy in order to maintain disease remission

  • ALL the current therapies are generally immune suppressive

    • Crohn’s disease:

      • Around 70% of Crohn’s patients eventually require surgery

      • Surgical recurrence rate: ~30% at 3 years, ~60% at 10 years

    • Ulcerative Colitis:

      • Over 25-33% of UC patients eventually require surgery

      • Depending on the severity of the disease, surgery may involve only the colon or the entire large intestine

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