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

• Digestive problems - The classic symptoms are severe digestive problems such as:
  • Abdominal pain
  • Abdominal cramping
  • Abdominal swelling
  • Abdominal tenderness
• more symptoms...»

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:
  • Home Food Allergy Tests
  • Home Food Intolerance Testing
  • Home Water Testing
  • Home Lead Poisoning Tests
  • Home Heavy Metal Poisoning Tests
• Digestive-Related Home Testing:
  • Home Stomach Ulcer Tests
  • Home Colorectal Cancer Test Kits
  • Home Fecal Occult Bleeding Test Kits
• more tests...»

Crohn's disease: Complications

Review possible medical complications related to Crohn's disease:

• Intestinal blockage
• Gastrointestinal bleeding
• Intestinal ulcers (see Digestive symptoms) - and these may lead to various complications:
  • Performated intestinal ulcer
  • Peritonitis
• more complications...»

Medical Textbooks Online about Crohn's disease

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for Crohn's disease

• Physical examination
• Complete blood count - for anemia and white blood cell counts
• Stool sample analysis
• Upper GI series - barium X-rays
• Lower GI series - barium X-rays
• more tests...»

See full list of 7 diagnostic tests for Crohn's disease

Wrongly Diagnosed with Crohn's disease?

• Misdiagnosis of Crohn's disease
• Failure to diagnose Crohn's disease
• Hidden causes of Crohn's disease (possibly wrongly diagnosed)
• Undiagnosed: Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease: Medical Mistakes

• Crohn's Disease -- Health Mistakes
• Ulcerative Colitis -- Health Mistakes
• Celiac Disease -- Health Mistakes
• more mistakes...»

Crohn's disease: Marketplace Products, Discounts & Offers

Products, offers and promotion categories available for Crohn's disease:

• Digestive Health
• more product offers...»

Crohn's disease: Undiagnosed Conditions

Commonly undiagnosed diseases in related medical categories:

• Chronic Digestive Disorders that can remain Undiagnosed:
  • Crohn's Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Ulcerative Colitis -- Undiagnosed
  • Celiac Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Heartburn -- Undiagnosed
  • GERD -- Undiagnosed
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome -- Undiagnosed
  • Carcinoid Syndrome -- Undiagnosed
  • Pancreatitis -- Undiagnosed
• more undiagnosed conditions...»

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 bowel syndrome, is over...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. The digestive system contains a variety of "good" bacteria...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 can also kill the "good" bacteria in the gut....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)....read more »

Mesenteric adenitis misdiagnosed as appendicitis in children: Because appendicitis is one of the more feared conditions for a child with abdominal pain, it can be over...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...read more »

Chronic digestive diseases hard to diagnose: There is an inherent difficulty in diagnosing the various types of chronic digestive diseases. Some of the...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease: Research Doctors & Specialists

Research related physicians and medical specialists:

• Digestive Health Specialists (Gastroenterology):
  • Gastroenterology (Digestive Specialists)
  • Pediatric Gastroenterology (Child Digestive Health)
• more specialists...»

Other doctor, physician and specialist research services:

• Rate Your Doctor Online
• Research Your Doctor Online
• Review Patient Surveys About Your Doctor
• Research local specialists including ratings, affiliations, and sanctions.

Hospitals & Clinics: Crohn's disease

Research quality ratings and patient safety measures for medical facilities in specialties related to Crohn's disease:

• Digestive Health (Gastroenterology) -- Hospital Quality Ratings
• more hospital ratings...»

Hospital & Clinic quality ratings » »

Choosing the Best Hospital: More general information, not necessarily in relation to Crohn's disease, on hospital performance and surgical care quality:

• 50 Best Hospitals Report
• Outstanding Patient Experinece Award Winning Hospitals
• Women's Health Best Hospitals
• Patient Safety
• Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence Study (2009)

Crohn's disease: Rare Types

Rare types of diseases and disorders in related medical categories:

• Chronic Digestive Disorders -- Rare Types:
  • Crohn's Disease -- Rare Types
  • Ulcerative Colitis -- Rare Types
  • Celiac Disease -- Rare Types
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease -- Rare Types
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome -- Rare Types
  • Carcinoid Syndrome -- Rare Types
  • Pancreatitis -- Rare Types
  • Gallstones -- Rare Types
  • Lactose Intolerance -- Rare Types
• more rare diseases...»

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:

• Underlying causes of Crohn's disease
• Crohn's disease as a symptom

Treatments for Crohn's disease

• Diet changes
  • Nutrition supplements
  • Vitamin supplements
  • High-calorie liquid formulas
  • Intravenous feeding - in severe cases
• more treatments...»

See full list of 33 treatments for Crohn's disease

Latest Treatments for Crohn's disease

• Sitz baths
• Soap and water after stooling
• Surgical drainage of abscesses
• Folates supplements
• Surgery
• more treatments...»

See full list of 17 latest treatments for Crohn's disease

News Archives for Crohn's disease

Medical news articles related to Crohn's disease include:

• Case Points to Link Between Crohn's Treatment, Cancer
• Omega-3 Fatty Acids Won't Prevent Crohn's Relapse
• Scientists Discover New Drug Targets for Crohn's Disease
• Scientists ID New Genes Tied to Crohn's Disease
• Cimzia Sanctioned to Treat Crohn's Disease
• Health Tip: Controlling Crohn's Disease
• Aggressive Therapy for Crohn's Disease Produces Better Outcomes
• Tysabri Approved for Crohn's Disease
• more health news...»

Source: HealthDay News

Evidence Based Medicine Research for Crohn's disease

Medical research articles related to Crohn's disease include:

• Thalidomide and thalidomide analogues for maintenance of remission in Crohn's disease
• Azathioprine or 6-mercaptopurine for maintenance of remission in Crohn's disease
• Infliximab prevents Crohn`s disease recurrence after ileal resection
• Omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil) for maintenance of remission in Crohn's disease
• Budesonide for maintenance of remission in Crohn's disease
• Oral budesonide for maintenance of remission of Crohn`s disease: a pooled safety analysis
• Thalidomide and thalidomide analogues for induction of remission in Crohn's disease
• Extracorporeal photopheresis for Crohn's disease
• more research...»

Click here to find more evidence-based articles on the TRIP Database

Videos for Crohn's disease

Patient Surveys for Crohn's disease

• Patient Profile Survey
  Take Survey  View Results
• Survey about the symptoms of your Crohn's disease
  Take Survey  View Results

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:

• Extracorporeal Photopheresis Therapy to Treat Crohn's Disease - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Uvadex
• Extracorporeal Photopheresis to Maintain Symptoms Remission During Steroid Withdrawal in Patients With Steroid-Dependent Crohn's Disease - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - UVADEX and UVAR XTS Photopheresis System
• Safety and Efficacy of ALX-0600 in Subjects With Active Crohn's Disease Who Completed Protocol CL0600-008 - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Teduglutide
• Study Evaluating rhIL-11 in Active Crohns Disease - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Recombinant Human Interleukin-11 (rhIL-11)
• A Study of the Safety and Efficacy of Inflixiamb (Remicade) in Pediatric Patients With Crohn's Disease - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - infliximab
• more trials...»

See full list of 132 Clinical Trials for Crohn's disease

Statistics for Crohn's disease

• Medical statistics for Crohn's disease
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Crohn's disease
• Death and Mortality statistics for Crohn's disease
• Society statistics for Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease: Broader Related Topics

• Autoimmune diseases
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Digestive Diseases
• Chronic digestive diseases
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Intestinal Conditions
• more types...»

Types of Crohn's disease

Curable Types of Crohn's disease

Possibly curable types of Crohn's disease include:

• Early onset Crohn's disease
• more types...»

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...»

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User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Crohn's disease, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

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