Signs and Symptoms
| Crohn's disease | Ulcerative colitis | |
|---|---|---|
| Defecation | Often porridge-like, sometimes steatorrhea |
Often mucus-like and with blood |
| Tenesmus | Less common | More common |
| Fever | Common | Indicates severe disease |
| Fistulae | Common | Seldom |
| Weight loss | Often | More seldom |
Although very different diseases, both may present with any of the following symptoms: abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, severe internal cramps/muscle spasms in the region of the pelvis, weight loss and various associated complaints or diseases like arthritis, pyoderma gangrenosum, and primary sclerosing cholangitis. Diagnosis is generally by assessment of inflammatory markers in stool followed by colonoscopy with biopsy of pathological lesions.
Findings in diagnostic workup in Crohn's disease vs. ulcerative colitis
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Sign | Crohn's disease | Ulcerative colitis |
| Terminal ileum involvement | Commonly | Seldom |
| Colon involvement | Usually | Always |
| Rectum involvement | Seldom | Usually |
| Involvement around the anus |
Common | Seldom |
| Bile duct involvement | No increase in rate of primary sclerosing cholangitis | Higher rate |
| Distribution of Disease | Patchy areas of inflammation (Skip lesions) | Continuous area of inflammation |
| Endoscopy | Deep geographic and serpiginous (snake-like) ulcers | Continuous ulcer |
| Depth of inflammation | May be transmural, deep into tissues | Shallow, mucosal |
| Stenosis | Common | Seldom |
| Granulomas on biopsy | May have non-necrotizing non-peri-intestinal crypt granulomas | Non-peri-intestinal crypt granulomas not seen |
Read more about this topic: Inflammatory Bowel Disease
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