Ulcerative Colitis

About Ulcerative Colitis & Proctitis When you first learn that you have ulcerative colitis, you will probably feel overwhelmed. You may not even have heard of ulcerative colitis until now. And even if you are familiar with the disorder, the information you have may be pretty limited. That's all about to change. Clearly, you will have many questions about how this disease will affect you -- both now and down the road. For example, you'll want to know:

• Will I be able to work, travel, and exercise?
• Should I be on a special diet?
• How will other people react to my illness?
• Could my medications have side effects?
• How will ulcerative colitis change my life?

Learning all you can is an important step toward taking charge of your illness -- and your life. The following is an overview of ulcerative colitis. It is designed to help you understand more about the diagnosis and treatment of this illness, and its impact on the day-to-day lives of patients and their families. The better informed you are about ulcerative colitis, the more equipped you'll be to participate as an active member of your healthcare team.

What is Ulcerative Colitis?

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic (ongoing) disease of the colon, or large intestine. The disease is marked by inflammation and ulceration of the colon mucosa, or innermost lining. Tiny open sores, or ulcers, form on the surface of the lining, where they bleed and produce pus and mucus. Because the inflammation makes the colon empty frequently, symptoms typically include diarrhea (sometimes bloody) and often crampy abdominal pain.

The inflammation usually begins in the rectum and lower colon, but it may also involve the entire colon. When ulcerative colitis affects only the lowest part of the colon -- the rectum -- it is called ulcerative proctitis. If the disease affects only the left side of the colon, it is called limited or distal colitis. If it involves the entire colon, it is termed pancolitis.

Ulcerative colitis differs from another inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Crohn's disease. Crohn's can affect any area of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, including the small intestine and colon. Ulcerative colitis, on the other hand, affects only the colon. The inflammation involves the entire rectum and extends up the colon in a continuous manner. There are no areas of normal intestine between the areas of diseased intestine. In contrast, such so-called "skip" areas may occur in Crohn's disease. Ulcerative colitis affects only the innermost lining of the colon, whereas Crohn's disease can affect the entire thickness of the bowel wall.

Both illnesses do have one strong feature in common. They are marked by an abnormal response by the body's immune system. The immune system is composed of various cells and proteins. Normally, these protect the body from infection. In people with IBD, however, the immune system reacts inappropriately. Mistaking food, bacteria, and other materials in the intestine for foreign or invading substances, it launches an attack. In the process, the body sends white blood cells into the lining of the intestines, where they produce chronic inflammation. These cells then generate harmful products that ultimately lead to ulcerations and bowel injury. When this happens, the patient experiences the symptoms of IBD.

Neither ulcerative colitis nor Crohn's disease should be confused with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a disorder that affects the motility (muscle contractions) of the colon. Sometimes called "spastic colon" or "nervous colitis," IBS is not characterized by intestinal inflammation. It is, therefore, a much less serious disease than ulcerative colitis. IBS bears no direct relationship to either ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease.

What Causes Ulcerative Colitis?

Although considerable progress has been made in IBD research, investigators do not yet know what causes this disease. Studies indicate that the inflammation in IBD involves a complex interaction of factors: the genes the persont has inherited, the immune system, and something in the environment. Foreign substances (antigens) in the environment may be the direct cause of the inflammation, or they may stimulate the body's defenses to produce an inflammation that continues without control. Researchers believe that once the IBD patient's immune system is "turned on," it does not know how to properly "turn off" at the right time. As a result, inflammation damages the intestine and causes the symptoms of IBD. That is why the main goal of medical therapy is to help patients regulate their immune system better.

CCFA-sponsored research has led to progress in the fields of immunology, the study of the body's immune defense system; microbiology, the study of microscopic organisms with the power to cause disease; and genetics. Many scientists now believe that the interaction of an outside agent (such as a virus or bacterium) with the body's immune system may trigger the disease, or that such an agent may cause damage to the intestinal wall, initiating or accelerating the disease process. Through CCFA's continuing research efforts, much more will be learned and a cure will eventually be found.

Is Ulcerative Colitis Inherited? We know that ulcerative colitis can tend to run in families. Studies have shown that up to 20 percent of people with ulcerative colitis will have a close relative with either ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease. Most often, the affected relative of the colitis patient will also have ulcerative colitis. However, based on current research, there does not appear to be a clear-cut pattern to this inheritance. Researchers continue to seek specific genes involved in the cause of the diseases. At this time, however, there is no way to predict which, if any, family members will develop ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease.

 

News about Ulcerative Colitis

Channel: GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology News From Medical News Today

• Anti-Cancer Gene To Be Activated By Researchers

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• Bleeding In Cirrhosis Patients May Be Reduced By Adherence To Practice Guidelines

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• Improved Salmonella And Campylobacter Detection Using Hyperspectral Imaging

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• As Hundreds Die Of Cholera, Nigeria Warns Of National Threat

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• Team To Explore How C. difficile Causes Illness, How Gut Microbiota And Immune Response Influence Who Is Vulnerable

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• 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...
• Tranzyme Pharma To Present Ulimorelin Data Showing Reduction In Daily Vomiting In Patients With Diabetic Gastroparesis

Tranzyme Pharma announced that John Wo, MD, Professor of Medicine, Director, Clinical Research, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, will present ulimorelin Phase 2 data at this year's Joint International NGM Meeting on Saturday, August 28, 2010. The conference is being held at the Westin Copley Place in Boston, MA...
• NICE Consults Again On Appraisal Of Bevacizumab For The Treatment Of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

NICE is issuing a second consultation document as part of its appraisal of bevacizumab (Avastin) in combination with chemotherapy (oxaliplatin and either 5-fluorouracil or capecitabine) for treating metastatic colorectal cancer. This second draft of the guidance does not recommend bevacizumab for this indication. This draft guidance has been issued for consultation...
• 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...
• Soligenix Announces Award Of $1.2 Million FDA Orphan Products Development Grant

Soligenix, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SNGX) (Soligenix or the Company), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced that it has been awarded a three year $1.2 million clinical research grant by the Office of Orphan Products Development (OOPD) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pursuant to its Orphan Products Development (OPD) Program...
• Rectal Cancer Rates Rising Among Young Americans

A new study published in a leading journal reports that rectal cancer appears to be rising among Americans under the age of 40, while colon cancer rates have remained steady for several decades; the study says more effort should go into diagnosing rectal cancer in young people...
• Getting The Facts On Constipation

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• Stress Management, Diet Changes Improve Irritable Bowel Syndrome Symptoms

When persistent cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, gas, diarrhea and constipation are causing distress and frequent bathroom trips, the next stop should be a visit to the doctor. These symptoms, commonly caused by irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), often can be minimized with diet and lifestyle changes...
• Gut Microbes May Provide Targets For Food-Borne Diseases

At any given time, trillions of tiny microbes - some helpful, some harmful - are living on and in humans, forming communities and outnumbering the body's own cells tenfold. Using a $7...
• New FDA Laws On Egg Safety Would Have Prevented Salmonella Outbreak, Feds Say

The Washington Post: "Salmonella-infected eggs traceable to a large egg producer in Iowa may have caused as many as 1,200 cases of intestinal illness ... The eggs went to distribution companies in 17 states, mostly west of the Mississippi River, but were then sold nationwide. ...
• Stomach Bacteria Need Vitamin To Establish Infection

Scientists have determined that Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium that causes peptic ulcers and some forms of stomach cancer, requires the vitamin B6 to establish and maintain chronic infection, according to research published this week in the online journal mBio™...
• Gut Microbes May Provide Therapeutic Targets For Food-Borne Diseases

At any given time, trillions of tiny microbes - some helpful, some harmful - are living on and in humans, forming communities and outnumbering the body's own cells tenfold. Using a $7...
• UT Southwestern Scientists Pry New Information From Disease-Causing, Shellfish-Borne Bacterium

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have uncovered a key weapon in the molecular arsenal the infectious bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V. para) uses to kill cells and cause food poisoning in its human host. Dr...
• Unequal Health Care Increases Colorectal Cancer Mortality In Blacks

Black patients die from colorectal cancer at much higher rates than whites do and new research points to unequal health care as the cause. While deaths from colorectal cancer have declined over the past 40 years, the declines have been uneven, said lead author Samir Soneji, Ph.D., of the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program at the University of Pennsylvania...
• New Colorectal Cancer Screening Coverage To Drive US Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Device Market To Almost $2.2 Billion By 2014

According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, new coverage instituted under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 will remove the financial disincentives associated with colorectal cancer screening for a large segment of the US population...
• Curb Appetite By Designing Fats That Are Digested More Slowly

Institute of Food Research scientists have discovered an unexpected synergy that helps break down fat. The discovery provides a focus to find ways to slow down fat digestion, and ultimately to create food structures that induce satiety...
• Warning System Inadequate To Prevent Swimmers From Getting Sick

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• Possible Link Between Gallbladder Cancer And Estrogens

A very aggressive disease with a poor prognosis, gallbladder cancer may be connected to higher exposure to estrogens, according to a group of researchers at the University of Houston (UH). Dr. Jan-Ake Gustafsson, Robert A...
• Key Step On Road To An Artificial Pancreas

JDRF has announced another important step on the road to the development of an artificial pancreas - an automated system to better manage the blood sugar of people with type 1 diabetes - with the establishment of a research program to speed the development of faster-acting insulin...
• ViKY(R) Robotic System Enters The Operating Room In Korea

As of August 2010, Korean patients will be able to get surgery with a robotic assistant holding and moving the endoscope: ViKY®. EndoControl, the French company specializing in advanced laparoscopy, and ASC Korea, its Korean distributor just got KFDA (Korean Food and Drug Administration) approval for the ViKY® robot...