Ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis: Introduction

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic, ongoing disease of the lower digestive or gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The hallmarks of ulcerative colitis are abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea due to inflammation and the development of open sores (ulcers) in the large intestine (colon) and rectum.

Ulcerative colitis is one of several types of inflammatory bowel disease that include Crohn's disease and irritable bowel syndrome. Like other inflammatory bowel diseases, ulcerative colitis can seriously affect a person's ability to work, attend school, travel or complete other normal activities of daily living. Serious complications of the ulcerative colitis include massive bleeding, colon rupture, and the possible development of colon cancer. About 25%-40% of people with ulcerative colitis eventually have their colons removed because of these complications. Complications may also include the development of arthritis, inflammation of the eye, liver disease, and osteoporosis. On the other hand, about half of people with ulcerative colitis experience only mild symptoms.

There may be a familial connection with ulcerative colitis and other inflammatory bowel diseases. About 20% of people with ulcerative colitis have a family member with the disease or with Crohn's disease. Ulcerative colitis can occur in any age group, but most often begins in people between 15 and 30 years of age. It occurs less often in people 50 and 70 years of age, but seems to affect men and women equally. Other people with a higher risk of developing the disease in include those of Jewish descent and Caucasians.

Symptoms of Ulcerative colitis

• Recurring attacks of symptoms varying in intensity and frequency
• Symptoms of severe attacks:
  • Bloody diarrhea
  • Watery diarrhea
  • High fever
• more symptoms...»

See full list of 40 symptoms of Ulcerative colitis

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Ulcerative colitis:

• 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...»

Ulcerative colitis: Complications

Review possible medical complications related to Ulcerative colitis:

• Abscess
• Weight loss
• Malnutrition
• Dehydration
• Intestinal ulcers (see Digestive symptoms)
• Gastrointestinal bleeding
• Anemia
• more complications...»

Medical Textbooks Online about Ulcerative colitis

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

Diagnostic Tests for Ulcerative colitis

• Physical exam
• Blood tests
• CBC
• Colonoscopy
• Barium enema x-ray
• more tests...»

Read more about tests for Ulcerative colitis

Wrongly Diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis?

• Misdiagnosis of Ulcerative colitis
• Failure to diagnose Ulcerative colitis
• Hidden causes of Ulcerative colitis (possibly wrongly diagnosed)
• Undiagnosed: Ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis: Medical Mistakes

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

Ulcerative colitis: Marketplace Products, Discounts & Offers

Products, offers and promotion categories available for Ulcerative colitis:

• Digestive Health
• more product offers...»

Ulcerative colitis: 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 Ulcerative colitis

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, ...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...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,...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...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-diagnosed (it...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. Some of the better known possibilities are peptic ulcer, ...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis: 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: Ulcerative colitis

Research quality ratings and patient safety measures for medical facilities in specialties related to Ulcerative colitis:

• 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 Ulcerative colitis, 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)

Ulcerative colitis: 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 Ulcerative colitis

• Autoimmune phenomenon
• Genetic susceptibility
• Smoking
• Environmental factors
• Immune-mediated phenomena
• more causes...»

See full list of 6 causes of Ulcerative colitis

More information about causes of Ulcerative colitis:

• Underlying causes of Ulcerative colitis
• Ulcerative colitis as a symptom

Treatments for Ulcerative colitis

• Lifestyle changes
  • Bed rest
  • Diet changes - avoiding whatever foods seem to trigger it for the individual (e.g. spices, dairy foods)
  • Low-fiber diet
  • Avoid cold wet weather
• more treatments...»

See full list of 35 treatments for Ulcerative colitis

News Archives for Ulcerative colitis

Medical news articles related to Ulcerative colitis include:

• Gut Bacteria Fights Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Scientists ID 2 New Genes for Bowel Disease in Kids
• Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Share Some Genetic Risk Factors
• Mouse Study Gives Clues to Colitis
• Farms Shield Kids From Bowel Disease
• more health news...»

Source: HealthDay News

Evidence Based Medicine Research for Ulcerative colitis

Medical research articles related to Ulcerative colitis include:

• Humanized antibody to the alpha4beta7 integrin for induction of remission in ulcerative colitis
• Open versus laparoscopic (assisted) ileo pouch anal anastomosis for ulcerative colitis and familial adenomatous polyposis
• Unfractionated or low-molecular weight heparin for induction of remission in ulcerative colitis
• Clinical trial: comparison of alendronate and alfacalcidol in glucocorticoid-associated osteoporosis in patients with ulcerative colitis
• Appendicitis, mesenteric lymphadenitis, and subsequent risk of ulcerative colitis: cohort studies in Sweden and Denmark.
• Once daily versus three times daily mesalazine granules in active ulcerative colitis: a double-blind, double-dummy, randomised, non-inferiority trial
• Transdermal nicotine for induction of remission in ulcerative colitis
• Following the tapering down of oral prednisolone for ulcerative colitis, how long does it take for prednisolone to get out of the system?
• more research...»

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

Videos for Ulcerative colitis

Patient Surveys for Ulcerative colitis

• Patient Profile Survey
  Take Survey  View Results
• Survey about the symptoms of your Ulcerative colitis
  Take Survey  View Results

Prognosis for Ulcerative colitis

Prognosis for Ulcerative colitis: Patients with ulcerative colitis usually have an intermittent course, with periods of disease inactivity alternating with "flares" of disease. Patients with proctitis or left-sided colitis usually have a more benign course: only 15% progress proximally with their disease, and up to 20% can have sustained remission in the absence of any therapy. Patients with more extensive disease are less likely to sustain remission, but the rate of remission is independent of the severity of disease.

More about prognosis of Ulcerative colitis

Reseach about Ulcerative colitis

Visit our research pages for current research about Ulcerative colitis treatments.

Clinical Trials for Ulcerative colitis

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 Ulcerative colitis include:

• A Long Term Safety Study of Infliximab (Remicade) - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• A Dose-Finding Study of OPC-6535 in Patients With Active Ulcerative Colitis - This study is not yet open for patient recruitment (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Tetomilast
• Immune Regulation in Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's Disease - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Once Daily Versus Conventional Dosing of Asacol in the Maintenance of Quiescent Ulcerative Colitis - This study is not yet open for patient recruitment (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Asacol (mesalamine)
• An Observational Follow-up Study for Subjects Receiving Salvage Therapy After Previous Treatment in a Visilizumab Study for Intravenous Steroid-Refractory Ulcerative Colitis - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Visilizumab (Nuvion®; HuM291)
• more trials...»

See full list of 71 Clinical Trials for Ulcerative colitis

Statistics for Ulcerative colitis

• Medical statistics for Ulcerative colitis
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Ulcerative colitis
• Death and Mortality statistics for Ulcerative colitis
• Society statistics for Ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis: Broader Related Topics

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

Types of Ulcerative colitis

Curable Types of Ulcerative colitis

Possibly curable types of Ulcerative colitis include:

• Early detected ulcerative colitis
• Proctitis
• Left sided colitis
• more types...»

Rare Types of Ulcerative colitis:

Rare types of Ulcerative colitis include:

• Celiac disease associated ulcerative colitis
• Dermatitis hepetiformis associated ulcerative colitis
• Systemic and discoid lupus associated ulcerative colitis
• Rheumatoid arthritis associated ulcerative colitis
• Ankylosing spondylitis associated ulcerative colitis
• more types...»

Stories from Users Related to Ulcerative colitis

• Ulcerative Colitis/Crohn's 31 yrs & 29 Surgeries Later
• Possible IBS or colitis?
• Ulcerative Colitis/Crohn's 31 yrs & 29 Surgeries Later
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• My Bowels....
• Bleeding from bowel - ulcerative colitis
• Ulcerative Colitis? Maybe..Help?
• 5 yr old with no bowel control
• Ulcerative Colitis, please help!
• Diagnosing bowel issues
• Ulcerative Colitis- normal colonoscopy and nausea
• RE: ulcerated flea bites
• Ulcer medications
• Ulcerative Colitis or something else?
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• Ileitis
• Ulcerative Colitis Treatment

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User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Ulcerative colitis, 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 Ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis is a disease that causes inflammation and sores, called ulcers, in the top layers of the lining of the large intestine. The inflammation usually occurs in the rectum and lower part of the colon, but it may affect the entire colon. Ulcerative colitis rarely affects the small intestine except for the lower section, called the ileum. Ulcerative colitis may also be called colitis, ileitis, or proctitis. (Source: excerpt from Ulcerative Colitis: NIDDK)

Definitions of Ulcerative colitis:

Chronic, recurrent ulceration of the colon mucosa and submucosa. - (Source - Diseases Database)

A serious chronic inflammatory disease of the large intestine and rectum characterized by recurrent episodes of abdominal pain and fever and chills and profuse diarrhea - (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 Ulcerative colitis as a "rare disease".
Source - Orphanet