Inflammatory Bowel Disease Disease Summary

Overview

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) consists of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). These diseases are defined in the Introduction section.

Inflammatory bowel disease affects approximately 7 million individuals globally. A detailed discussion about the prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease is in the Epidemiology section.

The Pathophysiology section states that inflammatory bowel disease involves complex environmental, epithelial, genetic, immunologic, and microbial factors. The developmental process of inflammatory bowel disease is in this section.

The Risk Factors section discusses the risk factors of inflammatory bowel disease such as smoking, gender, family history, gastrointestinal infection, the use of NSAIDs, appendectomy and lifestyle factors.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease_Disease Summary

History and Physical Examination

The Clinical Presentation section describes the general symptoms and clinical features of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

The History section emphasizes the importance of a complete history in the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease.

The Physical Examination section enumerates vital information needed in the examination of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Diagnosis

Laboratory tests such as serum and fecal inflammatory biomarkers, serologic markers, and histopathology that are essential in the evaluation of inflammatory bowel disease are in the Laboratory Tests and Ancillaries section.  

The Imaging section discusses endoscopy, such as colonoscopy, capsule endoscopy, flexible sigmoidoscopy, balloon-assisted enteroscopy and endoscopic ultrasonography, in the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease. The different radiologic studies, such as abdominal radiography, ultrasound, computed tomography scan, magnetic resonance imaging, and nuclear medicine, are also discussed in this section.

Other diseases that may mimic ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease are listed in the Differential Diagnosis section.

Management

Severity assessment and disease extent of ulcerative colitis and severity assessment of Crohn’s disease are discussed in the Evaluation section.

General therapy principles and management of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are in the Principles of Therapy section.

The Pharmacological Therapy section discusses in detail the management of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease depending on the severity and phase of the disease.

The Nonpharmacological section includes things to educate the patient about the management of inflammatory bowel disease. Nutritional and lifestyle modifications are also included in this section.

Surgical resection as a treatment option in the management of inflammatory bowel disease is discussed in the Surgery section.

The Prevention section discusses the importance of vaccine administration prior to therapy with immunosuppressants in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

The Monitoring section explains patient monitoring and follow-up recommendations in clinically asymptomatic, clinically symptomatic, and post-surgery patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

The Complications section discusses the different acute complications of inflammatory bowel disease. Colorectal cancer surveillance is also discussed in this section.