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Crohn's Disease - What The Doctor Knows
- By Site Admin
- Published 03/23/2008
- Crohns Disease
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Site Admin
Name: Bob
Age: 47
Location: U.S.A.
About Me:
For over 30 years, starting when I was old enough to begin to understand life, I have dealt with people suffering or trying to deal with various diseases and conditions, as I also suffered a long battle. I am not a doctor, I do not pretend to be one, what I am, is a caring person in real life. I hope anyone able to that stops by here will also donate some time to people in need of answers and a friendly chat. This site "Donations For Us" is about giving, donations are not only about money.
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What Your Doctor Knows About Crohn’s
Crohn’s disease was named after Dr. Burril B. Crohn who discovered the disease in 1932 along with his two other colleagues Dr. Leon Ginzburg and Dr. Gordon D. Oppenheimer. Crohn’s disease belongs to the group of illnesses called Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Although patients who have this type of disease may suffer severe discomfort at times, prolonged remission of the disease is common that there are many patients who are able to live normal lives.
What Causes Crohn’s Disease?
According to experts, Crohn’s disease has something to do with the genes of the sufferer. Where there have been cases of the disease in the bloodline of the person, there is a great possibility that that person will also get Crohn’s disease. Another theory espoused by some doctors and scientist id that the reaction of the immune system to the bacteria in the environment causes the disease.
Some doctors and scientists believe that Crohn’s disease is a result in the abnormal function of the immune system. According to studies, most people who have this type of disease are found to have some abnormalities in their immune system. However, there has been no convincing and conclusive proof that the abnormalities in the immune system came before the disease set thus triggering it. Some sectors in the medical arena believe that the abnormality could have been caused by the disease itself and not the other way around. However, the most doctors and scientists agree that Crohn’s disease is not a by-product of physical and mental stress.
Subtypes Of Crohn’s Disease
There are at least five (5) known subtypes of Crohn’s disease. These subtypes are Ileocolitis, Ileitis, gastroduodenal Crohn’s disease, jejunoileitis and Crohn’s granulomatuos colitis. The Ileocolities is the most common form of the disease. In most cases, a patient who is suffering from this type of Crohn’s disease will have symptoms such as intense pain in the abdomen and significant weight loss.
Is There A Cure For Crohn’s Disease?
As of now, there is still no known cure for the disease. However, there already some form of treatments, which have been proven to be effective n controlling the symptoms of the disease. These treatments include drug therapy, nutritional therapy and surgery as the case may be. However, for young children, it is recommended that surgery should be delayed until such time when the child is older.
Administration of drugs in children should also be done with utmost care to avoid any unwanted side effects.
Crohn’s Disease Diagnosis:
Crohn’s disease diagnosis can be very challenging because it is very similar to ulcerative colitis and it is very important, when making a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, to get as accurate a picture of the patient’s history regarding symptoms at the time of performing a physical examination. Crohn’s disease diagnosis may involve imaging to determine lesion type as well as how much of barium enema is involved and laboratory tests as well as pathological examination of biopsied intestinal tissues are very important to make a complete and accurate Crohn’s disease diagnosis.
Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (CDAI)
CDAI is one of the best tools used to determine as well as monitor severity as well as activity and has been developed by the National Cooperative Crohn’s Disease Study and is used for gaining knowledge about parameters with a consistent numerical index disease of status. It may be noted that having the proper and right Crohn’s disease diagnosis is important because some of its symptoms mimic those of other conditions and the method of undertaking tests should be able to rule out other conditions and for this, the physician will need to make a complete physical examination and also may need to order medical tests.
Crohn’s disease diagnosis may involve performing various tests that include blood tests, radiological examinations, stool tests, urine tests, and endoscopic tests. Blood tests, though useful, may not be able to provide positive Crohn’s disease diagnosis and such tests are usually undertaken in the hope that they reveal intestinal bleeding, infections or inflammatory conditions.
Radiologic examinations help in Crohn’s disease diagnosis by letting the physician look into the body and determine whether the patient is suffering from Crohn’s disease or not. A noninvasive test is the stool test which can examine samples of the patient’s stool to determine the presence of Crohn’s disease and the same may also be said of urine tests which are used to find out whether there are bacteria, red blood cells as well as white blood cells present in the patient’s urine. Endoscopic examinations are another aid in Crohn’s disease diagnosis in that such tests are performed with the help of a tool known as an endoscope which is a thin and flexible lighted tube linked to a computer as well as video monitor and the endoscopic examination involves inserting the endoscope into the patient’s rectum, mouth or into a small abdominal incision and help the gastroenterologist obtain a detailed picture of the patient’s intestinal tract.
Crohn’s disease was named after Dr. Burril B. Crohn who discovered the disease in 1932 along with his two other colleagues Dr. Leon Ginzburg and Dr. Gordon D. Oppenheimer. Crohn’s disease belongs to the group of illnesses called Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Although patients who have this type of disease may suffer severe discomfort at times, prolonged remission of the disease is common that there are many patients who are able to live normal lives.
What Causes Crohn’s Disease?
According to experts, Crohn’s disease has something to do with the genes of the sufferer. Where there have been cases of the disease in the bloodline of the person, there is a great possibility that that person will also get Crohn’s disease. Another theory espoused by some doctors and scientist id that the reaction of the immune system to the bacteria in the environment causes the disease.
Some doctors and scientists believe that Crohn’s disease is a result in the abnormal function of the immune system. According to studies, most people who have this type of disease are found to have some abnormalities in their immune system. However, there has been no convincing and conclusive proof that the abnormalities in the immune system came before the disease set thus triggering it. Some sectors in the medical arena believe that the abnormality could have been caused by the disease itself and not the other way around. However, the most doctors and scientists agree that Crohn’s disease is not a by-product of physical and mental stress.
Subtypes Of Crohn’s Disease
There are at least five (5) known subtypes of Crohn’s disease. These subtypes are Ileocolitis, Ileitis, gastroduodenal Crohn’s disease, jejunoileitis and Crohn’s granulomatuos colitis. The Ileocolities is the most common form of the disease. In most cases, a patient who is suffering from this type of Crohn’s disease will have symptoms such as intense pain in the abdomen and significant weight loss.
Is There A Cure For Crohn’s Disease?
As of now, there is still no known cure for the disease. However, there already some form of treatments, which have been proven to be effective n controlling the symptoms of the disease. These treatments include drug therapy, nutritional therapy and surgery as the case may be. However, for young children, it is recommended that surgery should be delayed until such time when the child is older.
Crohn’s Disease Diagnosis:
Crohn’s disease diagnosis can be very challenging because it is very similar to ulcerative colitis and it is very important, when making a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, to get as accurate a picture of the patient’s history regarding symptoms at the time of performing a physical examination. Crohn’s disease diagnosis may involve imaging to determine lesion type as well as how much of barium enema is involved and laboratory tests as well as pathological examination of biopsied intestinal tissues are very important to make a complete and accurate Crohn’s disease diagnosis.
Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (CDAI)
CDAI is one of the best tools used to determine as well as monitor severity as well as activity and has been developed by the National Cooperative Crohn’s Disease Study and is used for gaining knowledge about parameters with a consistent numerical index disease of status. It may be noted that having the proper and right Crohn’s disease diagnosis is important because some of its symptoms mimic those of other conditions and the method of undertaking tests should be able to rule out other conditions and for this, the physician will need to make a complete physical examination and also may need to order medical tests.
Crohn’s disease diagnosis may involve performing various tests that include blood tests, radiological examinations, stool tests, urine tests, and endoscopic tests. Blood tests, though useful, may not be able to provide positive Crohn’s disease diagnosis and such tests are usually undertaken in the hope that they reveal intestinal bleeding, infections or inflammatory conditions.
Radiologic examinations help in Crohn’s disease diagnosis by letting the physician look into the body and determine whether the patient is suffering from Crohn’s disease or not. A noninvasive test is the stool test which can examine samples of the patient’s stool to determine the presence of Crohn’s disease and the same may also be said of urine tests which are used to find out whether there are bacteria, red blood cells as well as white blood cells present in the patient’s urine. Endoscopic examinations are another aid in Crohn’s disease diagnosis in that such tests are performed with the help of a tool known as an endoscope which is a thin and flexible lighted tube linked to a computer as well as video monitor and the endoscopic examination involves inserting the endoscope into the patient’s rectum, mouth or into a small abdominal incision and help the gastroenterologist obtain a detailed picture of the patient’s intestinal tract.
