Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease: Introduction
Crohn's disease is an ongoing disease of the digestive or gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The hallmarks of Crohn's disease are swelling of the GI tract, abdominal pain, and frequent diarrhea. The swelling and inflammation of Crohn's disease goes deep into the affected part of the GI tract. The condition can affect any area of the GI tract, from the mouth to the anus, including esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and rectum. It most commonly affects the ileum, the lower portion of the small intestine.
Crohn's disease can seriously affect a person's ability to work, attend school, travel or complete other normal activities of daily living. Serious complications of the disease include obstruction of the intestine due to swelling and inflammation, and GI tract sores and ulcers that can become deep enough to create holes into other areas, such as the vagina, bladder, and skin. These holes, called fistulas, can easily become seriously infected.
Poor nutritional status is another potential result of Crohn's disease. This is due to a combination of factors, including a poor appetite and inadequate intake commonly associated with the condition. Poor nutrition can also be due to an inadequate absorption of nutrients by the intestine due to the inflammation, swelling, and diarrhea. This is known as malabsorption.
There may be a familial connection with Crohn's disease. About 20% of people with the condition have blood relatives with Crohn's disease or some other form of inflammatory bowel disease, such as ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome. Crohn's disease can occur in any age group, but most often is diagnosed between 20 to30 years of age. Other people with a higher risk of developing the disease in include those of Jewish descent, while African Americans have a decreased risk for the disease.
Symptoms of Crohn's disease
See full list of 27
symptoms of Crohn's disease
Home Diagnostic Testing
Home medical testing related to Crohn's disease:
- Food Allergies & Intolerances: Home Testing:
- Digestive-Related Home Testing:
- more tests...»
Crohn's disease: Complications
Review possible medical complications related to Crohn's disease:
Disease Topics Related To Crohn's disease
Research the causes of these diseases that are similar to, or related to, Crohn's disease:
Medical Textbooks Online about Crohn's disease
Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.
Diagnostic Tests for Crohn's disease
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diagnostic tests for Crohn's disease
Wrongly Diagnosed with Crohn's disease?
Crohn's disease: Medical Mistakes
Crohn's disease: Marketplace Products, Discounts & Offers
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Crohn's disease: Undiagnosed Conditions
Commonly undiagnosed diseases in related medical categories:
Misdiagnosis and Crohn's disease
Chronic digestive conditions often misdiagnosed: When diagnosing chronic symptoms
of the digestive tract, there are a variety of conditions that may be misdiagnosed.
The best known, irritable...read more »
Intestinal bacteria disorder may be hidden cause: One of the lesser known causes of diarrhea
is an imbalance of bacterial in the gut, sometimes called intestinal imbalance....read more »
Antibiotics often causes diarrhea: The use of antibiotics are very likely
to cause some level of diarrhea in patients.
The reason is that antibiotics kill off not only "bad" bacteria,
but...read more »
Food poisoning may actually be an infectious disease: Many people who come down
with "stomach symptoms" like diarrhea assume that it's "something I ate" (i.e. food poisoning).
In fact, it's more...read more »
Mesenteric adenitis misdiagnosed as appendicitis in children: Because appendicitis is one of the
more feared conditions for a child with abdominal pain,...read more »
Celiac disease often fails to be diagnosed cause of chronic digestive symptoms: One of the most common chronic digestive
conditions is celiac disease, a malabsorption disorder with a variety of symptoms (see symptoms of
celiac...read more »
Chronic digestive diseases hard to diagnose: There is an inherent
difficulty in diagnosing the various types of chronic digestive diseases....read more »
Read more about Misdiagnosis and Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease: Research Doctors & Specialists
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Hospitals & Clinics: Crohn's disease
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for medical facilities in specialties related to Crohn's disease:
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on hospital performance and surgical care quality:
Crohn's disease: Rare Types
Rare types of diseases and disorders in related medical categories:
Causes of Crohn's disease
- The exact cause of Crohn disease remains unknown. Current theories implicate the role of genetic, microbial, immunologic, environmental, dietary, vascular, and even psychosocial factors as potential causative agents
- Imbalance between proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory mediators
- Research shows that the inflammation seen in the GI tract of people with Crohn's disease involves several factors: the genes the patient has inherited, the immune system itself, and the environment. Foreign substances, also referred to as antigens, are found in the environment. One possible cause for inflammation may be the body's reaction to these antigens, or that the antigens themselves are the cause for the inflammation. Some scientists think that a protein produced by the immune system, called anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF), may be a possible cause for the inflammation associated with Crohn's disease
- more causes...»
Read more about causes of Crohn's disease
More information about causes of Crohn's disease:
Treatments for Crohn's disease
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treatments for Crohn's disease
Latest Treatments for Crohn's disease
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latest treatments for Crohn's disease
News Archives for Crohn's disease
Medical news articles related to Crohn's disease include:
Source: HealthDay News
Evidence Based Medicine Research for Crohn's disease
Medical research articles related to Crohn's disease include:
Click here to find more evidence-based articles on the TRIP Database
Videos for Crohn's disease
This program discusses medical issues affecting children diagnosed with Crohn's disease and ulcerative coltitis, types of inflammatory bowel...
Yogurt, probiotics and nutritional therapy can be a comfort to people living with inflammatory bowel disease. Listen to experts discuss this approach...
People with colitis and Crohn's disease have an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer. Listen as experts explain the link between IBD...
People with Crohn's and colitis can become malnourished because they can't absorb certain nutrients. Listen to experts discuss the complex...
See full list of 21 related videos
Patient Surveys for Crohn's disease
Prognosis for Crohn's disease
Prognosis for Crohn's disease:
the prognosis depends on treatment
More about prognosis of Crohn's disease
Reseach about Crohn's disease
Visit our research pages for current research about Crohn's disease treatments.
Clinical Trials for Crohn's disease
The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally
and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.
Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Crohn's disease include:
See full list of 132
Clinical Trials for Crohn's disease
Statistics for Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease: Broader Related Topics
Types of Crohn's disease
Curable Types of Crohn's disease
Possibly curable types of Crohn's disease include:
Rare Types of Crohn's disease:
Rare types of Crohn's disease include:
- Crohn's disease of oral cavity
- Crohn's disease of the hypopharynx
- SLE associated with Crohn's disease
- more types...»
Stories from Users Related to Crohn's disease
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Article Excerpts about Crohn's disease
Crohn's disease causes inflammation in the small intestine. Crohn's
disease usually occurs in the lower part of the small intestine, called
the ileum, but it can affect any part of the digestive tract, from the
mouth to the anus. The inflammation extends deep into the lining of the
affected organ. The inflammation can cause pain and can make the
intestines empty frequently, resulting in diarrhea.
Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the general
name for diseases that cause inflammation in the intestines.
(Source: excerpt from Crohn's Disease: NIDDK)
Definitions of Crohn's disease:
A gastrointestinal disorder characterized by chronic inflammation involving all layers of the intestinal wall, noncaseating granulomas affecting the intestinal wall and regional lymph nodes, and transmural fibrosis. Crohn's disease most commonly involves the terminal ileum; the colon is the second most common site of involvement. --2004
- (Source - Diseases Database)
A serious chronic and progressive inflammation of the ileum producing frequent bouts of diarrhea with abdominal pain and nausea and fever and weight loss
- (Source - WordNet 2.1)
Ophanet, a consortium of European partners,
currently defines a condition rare when it affects 1 person per 2,000.
They list Crohn's disease as a "rare disease".
Source - Orphanet
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