Chrones disease
Chrones diseaseCrohn's Disease
(Regional ileitis)
Intro (use part or all of this if your need it for the introduction)
Crohn's disease is named after the physician who described the disease in a paper written in 1972. It is also called Morbus Crohn's, Granulomatous enteritis, Regional enteritis, or Terminal ileitis.
Attacks of Crohn's disease affects patients in their teens or early twenties, and tends to recur throughout the individual's life. It is usually chronic, with recurrent periods, and also periods of remission.
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Crohn's disease, also referred to as regional ileitis, is a chronic, long term, inflammatory disease that affects the digestive tract. The cause of Crohn's disease is unknown. It can affect the digestive system anywhere between the mouth and the anus, but usually affects the final section of the small intestine, the ileum. Inflammation of the inner lining of the colon and rectum is caused by Ulcerative Colitis, while Crohn's disease is an inflammation that extends into the deeper layers of the intestinal wall. Crohn's disease can also affect the also affect the colon, the regional lymph nodes, and the mesentery (outside covering of the intestines). The disease can be aggravated by a bacterial infection. It begins with the development of patches of inflammation on the intestinal wall, which can spread from one part of the digestive tract to another. It sometimes only develops in one place and does not spread any further. The inflammation causes the thickening of the intestinal wall, which sometimes causes an obstruction in these areas, or scar tissue, which narrows the passageways.
The symptoms of Crohn's disease sometimes act like an appendicitis attack. The ileum is usually involved in Crohn's disease, and is located next to the appendix. Abdominal right-sided tenderness and pain, appetite and weight loss, possible diarrhea, bloody stools (sometimes), fever, abdominal distention, nausea, vomiting, and a general sick feeling. Crohn's disease also can cause growth retardation in children.
Crohn's disease can also appear as periodic cramps with diarrhea, and may or may not involve the obstruction of the bowel. Poorly digestible fruits and vegetables can plug the already narrowed segment of the intestine and cause an obstruction. Diarrhea may be the result from the obstruction because of poor absorption of nutrients, excessive growth of bacteria in the small bowel, or inflammation of the large intestine. The result of this could be blood in the stools, or rectal bleeding. Hemorrhages from Crohn's disease are rare, but they do occur.
Complications of the disease may occur in areas related to the intestinal disease (i.e., bowel perforation, abscesses, fistulae, cancer of the bowel, and intestinal hemorrhage). Or complications may occur in areas not related to the intestines (i.e.; tender, raised, reddish shin nodules; inflammation in the joints, spine, the eyes, the liver, and the bile ducts that drain the liver).
In one-fourth of all cases, the symptoms appear only once or twice, and...
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