crohn s disease

Classification and external resources The three most common sites of intestinal involvement in Crohn's disease are

ileal, ileocolic and colonic.[1] ICD-10 K50. ICD-9 555 OMIM 266600 DiseasesDB 3178 MedlinePlus 000249 eMedicine med/477 ped/507 radio/197 MeSH D003424

Crohn's disease (also known as granulomatous colitis and regional enteritis) is an inflammatory disease which may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, causing a wide variety of symptoms. It primarily causes abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody), vomiting, or weight loss,[1][2][3] but may also cause complications outside of the gastrointestinal tract such as skin rashes, arthritis and inflammation of the eye.[1]

Crohn's disease is an autoimmune disease, caused by the immune system attacking the gastrointestinal tract and producing inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract; it is classified as a type of inflammatory bowel disease. There appears to be a genetic link to Crohn's disease, with the highest risk occurring in individuals with siblings who have the disease. Males and females are equally affected. Smokers are three times more likely to develop Crohn's disease. [4] Crohn's disease affects between 400,000 and 600,000 people in North America.[5] Prevalence estimates for Northern Europe have ranged from 27–48 per 100,000.[6] Crohn's disease tends to present initially in the teens and twenties, with another peak incidence in the fifties to seventies, although the disease can occur at any age.[1][7]

There is no known drug or surgical cure for Crohn's disease;[8] treatment options are restricted to controlling symptoms, maintaining remission and preventing relapse.

The disease was independently described in 1904 by Polish surgeon Antoni Lesniowski and in 1932 by American gastroenterologist Burrill Bernard Crohn, for whom the disease was named. Crohn, along with two colleagues, described a series of patients with inflammation of the terminal ileum, the area most commonly affected by the illness.[9] For this reason, the disease has also been called regional ileitis[9] or regional enteritis. Contents [hide] 1 Classification 2 Symptoms 2.1 Gastrointestinal symptoms 2.2 Systemic symptoms 2.3 Extraintestinal symptoms 2.4 Complications 3 Cause 3.1 Genetics 3.2 Environmental factors 3.3 Immune system 3.4 Microbes 4 Pathophysiology 5 Diagnosis 5.1 Endoscopy 5.2 Radiologic tests 5.3 Blood tests 5.4 Feces 5.5 Comparison with ulcerative colitis 6 Treatment 6.1 Medication 6.2 Lifestyle changes 6.3 Surgery 6.4 Prospective treatments 7 Prognosis 8 Epidemiology 9 History 10 See also 11 References 12 External links //

Classification Distribution of gastrointestinal Crohn's disease. Based on data from American Gastroenterological Association.

Crohn's disease is generally classified as an autoimmune disease. It invariably affects the gastrointestinal tract, and most gastroenterologists categorize the presenting disease by the