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Inflammatory Bowel Disease
What is Inflammatory Bowel Disease?
What are the symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease?
How is Inflammatory Bowel Disease diagnosed?
What is the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease?
What is Inflammatory Bowel Disease?
The term Inflammatory Bowel Disease refers to
the conditions known as "Ulcerative Colitis" or "Crohn's disease or
"Crohn's colitis". These conditions represent inflammation of the
intestine, and in the case of Ulcerative colitis, only of the large
bowel, whereas Crohn's disease can affect any part of the intestine.
The causes of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease at this time are
unknown, but it is likely that a number of congenital and acquired
factors can be implicated in the cause of these diseases.
It is sometimes suggested that these disease
are "stress related". There is no evidence to support this contention,
although stress may well be an aggravating factor, as can certain
foods, for example, milk products in a small proportion of instances.
What are the symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease?
Both Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease can
be associated with abdominal discomfort and diarrhoea, as well as
bleeding from the bowel. In more severe cases blockages of the
intestine can occur, and other parts of the body may also develop
disorders, for example, certain forms of arthritis may be more common
with bowel inflammation.
Patients with long-term severe colitis will in due course develop an increased risk of developing bowel cancer.
How is Inflammatory Bowel Disease diagnosed?
Ulcerative colitis can usually be diagnosed by examination of the large intestine including sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy.
Crohn's disease may also be diagnosed this way, but often Crohn's
disease may be limited to the small intestine and x-rays of the
intestine may be required to confirm the presence of this condition.
What is the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease?
Medical treatment is likely to control most
patients with inflammatory bowel disease, and if symptoms are severe,
cortisone may be necessary. In particularly severe cases, surgery may
be required and one of a variety of operations may be necessary.
Surgery has the potential to cure ulcerative colitis because the
condition involves only part of the intestine, namely the large bowel.
With Crohn's disease however the condition can crop up in various parts
of the intestine and is not curable by surgical resection. As a result,
surgery in the treatment of Crohn's disease is usually reserved only
for the complications of the condition, rather than trying to achieve a
cure. Undoubtedly in due course medication will be discovered which
will cure both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.
Related Links
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Authorised: Adrian Polglase
Reviewed: Monday, February 27, 2006
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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Gas
July 18, 2007 |
| We’ve all experienced intestinal gas, some more than others. While belching, bloating, and flatulence are considered normal, the urge to pass gas can cause social embarrassment, discomfort and pain. Although you can’t stop gas from forming, you may be able to alleviate the symptoms through diet, lifestyle changes and medications. If you experience persistent gas pains, you should talk to your doctor.
For more information on intestinal gas, visit the ACG Web site at www.acg.gi.org
Source: American College of Gastroenterology (ACG)
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Bowel cancer finding brings screening closer
July 18, 2007 |
| RESEARCHERS have identified for the first time a gene that triggers bowel cancer, a move that could bring closer a genetic screening test for the disease.
The gene, carried by about half the population, appears to increase the risk of developing bowel cancer by 20per cent.
Bowel cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia, accounting for about 13,000 new cases a year.
So far, faulty genes have only been implicated in about 5 per cent of all cancers, and 5 per cent of bowel cancers.
In the case of bowel cancers, the genetic defects so far associated with the disease are all thought to be associated with faulty cellular repair mechanisms, meaning that the body loses the ability to kill off cells that start to divide abnormally.
Bowel cancer is also the second most common cause of cancer death in Australia, accounting for 4372 deaths in 2003, or 11.5 per cent of the total fatalities. It is notoriously hard to pick up for a number of reasons, including the difficulty of picking up warning signs - such as blood in the faeces - and patients' reluctance to see their doctors.
This year the federal Government began rolling out a screening program, costing $43 million over three years, whereby older Australians send in a faecal sample for testing.
If blood that could indicate a cancer is detected in the sample, the patient may be called in for further examinations.
The latest findings, published in international journal Nature Genetics, suggest a faulty gene found on chromosome 8 may trigger bowel cancer, and account for 10per cent of all cases of the disease. |
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| Let's Beat Bowel Cancer |
| An initiative of Cabrini Health, Let's Beat Bowel Cancer is a not-for-profit, community awareness program dedicated to saving lives through improved bowel cancer research, education and prevention.
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