Ulcerative colitis progresses from the rectum and moves proximally. Distal disease refers to inflammation that is limited to the rectum (proctitis) or rectum and sigmoid colon. Here it is referred to as proctosigmioditis. If the disease is more extensive it includes the left side of the colon and can cover the splenic flexure. This occurs in 40% of patients. Extensive colitis occurs up to the hepatic flexure. Pan colitis affects the whole of the colon and this can affect up to 20% of patients. Some patients with pan colitis have involvement of the terminal ileum, this is caused by an incompetent ileocaecal valve.
Crohn’s Disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, IBD, which affects the lining of the digestive tract. (MayoClinic, 2009). Inflammation is caused from the T-cells being activated which results in damage to the digestive tract. According Rangasamy, P. MD and Katz, J. M.D. (2011), “Once the T-cells are activated by antigen presentation, unrestraint of the helper lymphocytes type 1 (Th1) predominate in Crohn’s Disease because of defective regulation. Th1 cytokines such as interleukin (IL)–12 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)–alpha stimulate the inflammatory response. Inflammatory cells recruited by these cytokines release nonspecific inflammatory substances, including arachidonic acid metabolites, proteases, platelet activating factor, and free radicals, which result in direct injury to the intestine.” (paragraph 1- pathophysiology).
Crohn’s Disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract. It is one of two disease under the category “IBD”, or Irritable Bowel Disease, the other being Ulcerative Colitis. Crohn’s is named after Dr. Burrill B. Crohn, who, along with Dr. Leon Ginzburg and Dr. Gordon D. Oppenheimer, described the disease back in 1932. Crohn’s commonly affects the ileum and the beginning of the colon, but it can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract, from the mouth to the anus. Crohn’s can affect the entire bowel wall, while it can also “skip” over patches of the diseased intestine, leaving some unaffected parts of the area. In a healthy gastrointestinal tract, there are many harmless bacteria, which aid in digestion. The immune system will attack and kill any foreign invaders. In Crohn’s patients, the normal bacteria are mistaken for invaders, and the immune system responds. Cells will travel out of the blood and to the intestines, in turn producing inflammation, the normal response. The inflammation does not go down, which leads to chronic inflammation, ulceration, and a thickening of the intestinal wall. These lead to the patient’s symptoms.
Crohn’s disease is a life-long condition effecting victims of any age. It is considered a form of an inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation in the digestive system. The cause of the disease is unknown. The inflammation is due to the immune system attacking the healthy cells throughout the body’s gastrointestinal tract.
The disease affects approximately 2 million Americans (Harvard). Crohn’s Disease may complicate the bodies ability to digest food causing further problems. The disease has more occurrences in North America and Europe usually in the Northern areas and is rarely found in South America or Africa. More women on average tend to have Crohn’s disease. This disease also affects young people with the average age of the diagnoses taking place from 15 to 30 years old. The majority of cases start between 15 and 24 and before 30 years. Chances are higher for people of Eastern European or Ashkenazi Jewish backgrounds. Smoking increases the chances of the disease as well as having a family member that has been diagnosed with the disease.
Crohn's Disease Crohn' s disease is a bowel disease characterized by inflammation of the different layers of the gastrointestinal tract. It can be distinguished from ulcerative colitis (a similar disease) in that Crohn' s affects any part of the gut, whereas ulcerative colitis only affects the innermost layer of the colon and rectum. About 15% of Crohn' s patients have severe fistulating disease. In this form, ulcer-like channels develop from the bowel wall and burrow all the way to the skin surface. Eventually, 75% of these patients require surgery. It is estimated that approximately one million Americans suffer from Crohn's and ulcerative colitis. The total cost for Crohn's disease was $43.1 million in 1994. While drug therapy accounted for 6% of these costs, indirect costs (i.e., sick leave and early retirement) constituted 71% of the total cost. The onset of Crohn's disease most often occurs between the ages of 15 and 35, but can occur at any age. The exact cause is unknown, but is thought to be autoimmune in nature with a genetic predisposition. Researchers are still looking for an infectious cause but no organism has been isolated.
In conclusion there are a lot of conditions to be aware of that people don’t really think of. It is important to take precautions and pay attention to symptoms and conditions are body shows us. And get educated about different disease out there to protect our families and ourselves.
There were only a few who didn’t know what it was (A). The you have (B), which was people who have it, and when I conducted the survey no one had it. Also, a few people knew of someone who has this disease (D). It is good to know that our fellow people are informed about this severe condition.
Lewis, S., Collier, I., & Heitkemper, M. (1996). Crohn’s disease (4). St Louis, MI: Mosby-Year Book.
worldwide this disease only affects 1-2 in 100,000 people (). It is estimated that there
Many people experience symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome or IBS, but many do not see a doctor to get treatment. This common bowel disorder affects millions of people, and is one of the major causes of disability and absenteeism. Although it is not a serious threat to health, it reduces the quality of life and can lead to depression.
Ulcerative colitis typically affects young to middle aged people. Males and females are affected at equal rates. The condition usually needs lifelong treatment. The prevalence in the United Kingdom is approximately 243 per 100 000 of the population.3 The incidence is rising globally since the mid-twentieth century.4
Crohn’s results when the body’s defense system, the immune system, does not behave normally. In the case of Crohn’s the immune system attacks bacteria that aid in digestion by mistaking the bacteria for an invading substance. ("About crohn's disease," 2009) This attack is what causes the inflammation characteristic of Crohn’s and can lead to a myriad of symptoms and complications.
This articles audience could be medical staff who treats this illness daily. By seeing the results of the study they would be more apt to know the potential of a cardiovascular disease related illness being inflicted from inflammatory bowel disease. This area is relevant to the topic of women’s health in cardiovascular disease in the fact that women have the potential of contracting this illness too and because of this they may fall victim of a cardiovascular illness because of it. I think the research did a good job connecting two illnesses which would not necessarily be thought of as joined. A strength of this study would be that it had a large sample size, while a weakness would be that many victims of both diseases may have been affected different due to socioec...