Crohn's disease

What is Crohn's Disease?

Crohn's disease is a form disease, which involves ongoing (chronic) inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.

The disease is named after Dr. Burrill B. Crohn, who published a landmark paper with colleagues Oppenheimer and Ginsburg in 1932, describing the features of what is known today as Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s and a related disease, ulcerative colitis, are the two main disease categories that belong to a larger group of illnesses called inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Actually, Crohn's Disease can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus; as a result, the symptoms of Crohn's disease can vary between affected individuals.

Types of Crohn's Disease and associated symptoms

The symptoms and potential complications of Crohn's disease differ, depending on what part of the GI tract is inflamed. That's why it is important for you to know which part of your intestine is affected by Crohn’s disease. Your doctor also may refer to your illness by various names based on the main area involved. The following are several types of Crohn's disease:

News about Crohn's Disease

• Crohn's Disease: Risk Of Surgery Lower Than Reported In Recent Studies

A new multi-center study of 854 children with Crohn's disease shows a 5-year cumulative risk of bowel surgery is significantly lower than reported in recent studies...
• Prometheus Launches The First Serogenetic Test To Predict Risk Of Complications From Crohn's Disease

Prometheus Laboratories Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical and diagnostic company, announced the commercial launch of its proprietary PROMETHEUS® Crohn's Prognostic test...
• Crohn's Disease Could Be Treated With Banana Plantain Fibers

Crohn's is a condition that affects one in 800 people in the UK and causes chronic intestinal inflammation, leading to pain, bleeding and diarrhoea. Researchers are working with biotechnology company, Provexis, to test a new plantain based food product that could treat patients with the disease...
• Potential New Treatments For Bowel Diseases With The Reshaping Of The Gut Microbiome

Home to a diverse range of microorganisms, a healthy human body contains at least tenfold more bacteria cells than human cells. The most abundant and diverse microbial community resides in the intestine, and changes to the gut microbiota are linked with diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease...
• Patient Symptoms Are Not Reliable Indicators Of Crohn's Disease Recurrence, Pitt Researchers Find

The Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI), which relies on patient symptoms to determine whether or not Crohn's disease is active, may not reliably indicate whether a patient's disease has returned after corrective surgery, according to a study published in this month's issue of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.According to Miguel Regueiro, M.D...
• Encouraging Data On Preventing Crohn's Disease Recurrence

Biological agents may play an important role in maintaining remission in Crohn's disease, according to two new studies in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute. "Post-surgical recurrence of Crohn's disease occurs very frequently...
• Colitis Patients Diagnosed Later In Life Tend To Have Better Disease Outcomes

Adults diagnosed with ulcerative colitis after age 50 are more likely to achieve remission from their symptoms than patients diagnosed at younger ages, even when those patients receive similar treatments, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis...
• The Risk Of Malignancy In Children May Be Increased By TNF Blockers

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received reports of malignancies in children using tumor necrosis factor a (TNF) blockers, raising concerns of an associated risk and prompting an investigation...
• Computational Model Of Colon Inflammation Singles Out Dangerous Immune Cells

Scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech have constructed a mathematical and computational model of inflammatory bowel disease that allows researchers to simulate the cellular and molecular changes underlying chronic inflammation in humans...
• Vitamin D Receptor Emerges As A Key Player Amid The Murk Of 'Gut Flora'

Within the human digestive tract is a teeming mass of hundreds of types of bacteria, a potpourri of microbes numbering in the trillions that help us digest food and keep bad bacteria in check...
• A Step Towards A New Therapy For Chronic Bowel Disease

Scientists associated with VIB (Flanders Institute for Biotechnology) and Ghent University (UGent) have discovered that A20 protein plays an important protective role in diseases associated with chronic bowel inflammation. This makes A20 into a promising therapeutic target for the development of new anti-inflammatory drugs...
• Plant Extract May Be Effective Against Inflammatory Bowel Disease

A South Dakota State University scientist's research shows an extract made from a food plant in the Brassica family was effective in alleviating signs of ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel condition, in mice...
• Cancer Drug Shows Promise For Treating A Wide Range Of Inflammatory Diseases

Those looking for a new treatment for a range of inflammatory diseases like arthritis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and lupus may need to look no further than a drug already available for treating cancer...
• Bovine Paratuberculosis Close To Being Eradicated According To International Experts

A group of 85 international experts, amongst whom are two scientists from NEIKER-Tecnalia, believe that the illness known as bovine paratuberculosis or Johne's disease can be eradicated by means of control programmes, new vaccines or the sacrifice of infected animals...
• Measurement Of C-Reactive Protein In Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients

C-reactive protein (CRP) is used to assess disease activity in diverse inflammatory disorders including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, in IBD, a significant number of patients present with low CRP levels despite clinically active disease. In paediatric patients with IBD the performance of CRP is an understudied area...
• A Future Strategy For The Treatment Of Patients With Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is characterized by frequent diarrheal attacks and anal bleeding. Histologic characteristics of UC are the invasion of the crypt epithelium and lamina propria by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), disruption of the epithelial lining, and consequently mucosal ulceration and crypt abscess formation in the bowel wall...
• Virus Works With Gene To Cause Crohn's-Like Illness

Scientists have shown that a specific virus can interact with a mutation in the host's genes to trigger disease. The observation may help explain why many people with disease risk genes do not actually develop disease. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St...
• Potential New Treatment For Ulcerative Colitis Following Discovery

McMaster University researchers have identified a specific chemical that may trigger remission in patients with the debilitating disease of ulcerative colitis...
• New Psychological Intervention Program Developed At The University Of Georgia Shows Promise In Helping Those With Bowel Diseases

Disease is a private matter to many of us. For many reasons, we want to keep it to ourselves, and no cluster of disorders challenges patients' need for privacy more than inflammatory bowel disease. Teenagers with IBD, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, often have serious trouble coping with the disorders...
• Symptoms Of Digestive Disorders Alleviated By Probiotic Found In Breast Milk

New research published in the FASEB Journal suggests that Lactobacillus reuteri immediately affects nerves in the gut, explaining how probiotics work Here's another reason to breast feed your baby: Canadian researchers have discovered how a probiotic found in breastmilk reduces or eliminates painful cramping in the gut...
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease May Be Eased By Use Of Local Anesthetics

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a disease of the gastrointestinal tract, mainly the intestines, that may occur in those people who have genetic potential combined with environmental factors. There has been no definitive medical treatment and drugs usually just relieve the symptoms. Local anesthetics are used to locally desensitize the tissues to allow surgical interventions...
• Prescription Charges Unchanged For People With Longterm Medical Conditions Crohn's And Colitis

The National Association for Colitis and Crohn's disease (NACC) has welcomed the publication of Professor Ian Gilmore's review on prescription charge exemption for people with long term conditions, and calls on the new coalition government to act on his considered and clearly presented proposals to abolish prescription charges for people in England who are living with liv...
• ACG Experts Provide Insight On The Latest IBD Therapies, Pregnancy And Pediatric Patient Concerns In New Podcast Series

The American College of Gastroenterology announced the release of a new podcast series, " Audio Q&A on Inflammatory Bowel Disease," featuring ACG experts answering questions on topics of most concern to IBD patients, their caregivers and loved ones...
• When Helper Cells Aren't Helpful

Current research suggests that T helper-type 1 (Th1) cells, previously thought to mediate autoimmunity, may actual inhibit the development of experimental immune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), by suppressing Th17 cells...
• NICE Recommends Two More Treatments For Crohn's Disease

NICE has announced that it has recommended two treatments (infliximab and adalimumab) for people with severe Crohn's disease. The guidance approves use of the drugs for people who have not responded to, who are intolerant of, or are unable to take more commonly used therapies to treat the condition...