Inflammatory bowel disease refers to a class of bowel problems characterized by unusual inflammations of the bowel causing abdominal pain, abdominal bloating, diarrhea, and blood and mucous in the stool. The two most common diseases under this condition are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Although they both cause unusual inflammations in the bowel, they have two distinct different clinical features.

Ulcerative colitis is a condition where the colon becomes inflamed and is limited only to the colon. Crohn’s disease on the other hand is an inflammatory condition that involves the bowel, but entire bowel tract all the way from the mouth to the anal area can be involved in some fashion.

The cause of inflammatory bowel disease remains unknown. There are many theories but none have been proven to be totally correct. They do fall under the autoimmune conditions, meaning that the body for whatever reason recognizes certain portions of the bowel as foreign to the body and, therefore, sends antibodies to these specific cells in the bowel causing the reaction to occur. In many instances, this problem can be treated with medications and steroids are one of the most common medications used for the treatment of these conditions. Other medications that have been shown to be effective against this condition are anti-inflammatory agents that lessen the inflammation. This condition can have periods of prolonged inflammation and also periods of remission. In those instances where a person develops severe symptoms and is not responsive to medical therapy, surgery may be indicated. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease can also develop severe complications, among them severe infection and severe inflammation of the bowel (toxic megacolon), they can develop perforation of the bowel leading to infections of the abdomen and peritonitis, they can have severe bleeding, they can develop obstructions, they can develop abnormal connections between bowel to bowel leading to infection and patients with this condition are at high risk for developing cancer as well. When complications develop and are not responsive to medical therapy, then surgery becomes indicated. In patients with ulcerative colitis, it will be necessary to remove the entire colon and in many instances a pouch is made out of the small bowel and is connected to the lowest most sphincter of the anus in order to maintain bowel continuity.

In patients with Crohn’s disease, not only are their small bowel and colon afflicted, and if they require surgery, these areas of the bowel will have to be resected, but they can also develop severe complications around the anal area characterized by abscess formation and fissure and this will need to be treated on an intermittent basis with drainage and antibiotics.