Crohn's Disease Research Paper

Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract that belongs to a group of conditions that are known as inflammatory bowel diseases or IBD. The disease is named after Dr. Burrill B. Crohn who first described the disease in 1932 with his colleagues Dr. Leon Ginzburg and Dr. Gordon D. Oppenheimer. Although in the same group of diseases, Crohn’s disease is no the same as ulcerative colitis. The symptoms of both disorders are quite similar and they are often confused as the same disease, but they both affect different areas of the gastrointestinal tract. Crohn’s disease can often be painful and debilitating, and can also sometimes lead to life-threatening complications, however with the proper treatment individuals

The disease can also affect the entire thickness of the bowel wall. The inflammation that Crohn’s disease causes in the intestine can “skip”, meaning that it can leave normal areas in between patches of diseased intestine. Inflammation of Crohn’s disease can also often spread deep into the layers of the affected bowel tissue. The symptoms of Crohn’s disease can vary from person to person, and some symptoms are more common than others. Symptoms in those with Crohn’s disease involving the gastrointestinal tract can include persistent diarrhea, rectal bleeding, an urgent need to move bowels, abdominal cramps and pain, a sensation of incomplete evacuation, and constipation, which can

Men and women have been shown to be equally affected by the disease. While Crohn’s disease can occur at any age, it is more prevalent in adolescents and young adults between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five. Diet and stress were previously suspected to be the main causes of Crohn’s disease, but recent research more so points to genetics and/or environmental factors to be the main causes of the disease. It is also believed that it tends to run within families, with up to twenty percent of individuals with Crohn’s disease having a blood relative with some form of an inflammatory bowel disease. However, the exact cause of Crohn’s disease is not yet well understood. Diet and stress can aggravate Crohn’s disease, but, as stated before, they do not directly cause the disease on their own. There is no known cure for Crohn’s disease, but therapies can help to greatly reduce signs and symptoms of the disease, and in some cases can even bring about long-term