Crohns and ulcerative colitis...

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Could someone explain to me Crohns and ulcerative colitis? I keep seeing ppl compare them also. What are the similarites and differences. Thanks bunches!

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

You will learn and remember more by reading about these diseases yourself. Below, are links to pages on the online Merck Manual where you will find the information you are looking for:

You can look up any disease by using the search box at the left side of the page. Or, you can pull up a list of the major sections that are contained in the online manual: http://www.merck.com/mmpe/full-sections.html?qt=Sections&alt=sh and expand them.

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Could someone explain to me Crohns and ulcerative colitis? I keep seeing ppl compare them also. What are the similarites and differences. Thanks bunches!

They are both inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). They are thought to have an auto-immune component. They share a lot of traits and both predominately cause inflamation and ulceration along the GI tract. The inflamation can prevent absorption and cause chronic diarrhea.....it also hurts like heck. There are three primary differences between the two diseases one is location in the GI tract and the second is depth of disease within the intestinal wall. The third difference is that Crohn's can happen in patches in multiple places along the GI tract at the same time....ie the diseased areas aren't necessairly connected. Wheras UC generally progressess continuously.

Crohn's can occur anywhere along the GI tract, from mouth to rectum. It often starts around the illeum though. Crohn's ulcers can also be full thickness, so they can go through the intestinal wall (creating fissures and fistulas) and occur in a spotty fashion through out the GI tract.

Ulcerative Colitis is generally confined to the large intestine. It often progresses from the rectum toward the small intestine in a continuous pattern. It's ulcerations also do not go completely through the intestinal wall (I believe they're confied to the mucosa).

I hope this helps....if I got anything wrong, I'm sure somone will jump in :D

Peace,

CuriousMe

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Thanks! that was exactly what I needed... my teacher stressed that Crohns has non-bloody diarrhea and Ulcerative colitis does have blood. But I would think that since Crohns can be full thickness that would cause the bloody diarrhea. Any thoughts on this? Are these two the ONLY types of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases?

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Specializes in General adult inpatient psychiatry.
They are both inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). They are thought to have an auto-immune component. They share a lot of traits and both predominately cause inflamation and ulceration along the GI tract. The inflamation can prevent absorption and cause chronic diarrhea.....it also hurts like heck. There are three primary differences between the two diseases one is location in the GI tract and the second is depth of disease within the intestinal wall. The third difference is that Crohn's can happen in patches in multiple places along the GI tract at the same time....ie the diseased areas aren't necessairly connected. Wheras UC generally progressess continuously.

Crohn's can occur anywhere along the GI tract, from mouth to rectum. It often starts around the illeum though. Crohn's ulcers can also be full thickness, so they can go through the intestinal wall (creating fissures and fistulas) and occur in a spotty fashion through out the GI tract.

Ulcerative Colitis is generally confined to the large intestine. It often progresses from the rectum toward the small intestine in a continuous pattern. It's ulcerations also do not go completely through the intestinal wall (I believe they're confied to the mucosa).

I hope this helps....if I got anything wrong, I'm sure somone will jump in :D

Peace,

CuriousMe

Yeah that! I think that's the best explanation I've heard so far.

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