Definition of Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) similar in form and symptoms to Crohn's disease. The main difference between the two is that Crohn's disease can affect the entire gastrointestinal (GI) tract, while ulcerative colitis is confined to the colon.

Features

• Ulcerative colitis literally means ulcers in the colon. Just as the name implies, symptoms can include ulcers, inflammation, abdominal cramping, diarrhea and bloody stools.

Environmental Causes

• The exact causes of ulcerative colitis are unknown, but the disease affects between 30 and 100 out of every 100,000 persons in the United States. There is some evidence that environmental factors play a role in the development of the disease, as more patients develop the disease in the northern than in the southern United States.

Genetic Causes

• Other factors indicate that ulcerative colitis has a genetic component. For instance, there is a slightly increased occurrence of ulcerative colitis among certain ethnic groups and their family members. Additionally, families in which one member suffers from ulcerative colitis show an increased tendency to develop Crohn's disease, which may indicate that both diseases have similar causes.

Treatment

• There is no known cure for ulcerative colitis. Treatments focus on pain management and shortening the duration of the symptoms, and they may include prescription painkillers to ease the pain of the symptoms, immunosuppressive drugs and biological therapy, as well as lifestyle changes to prevent a relapse of the disease symptoms.

Colon Cancer

• As with any cancer, repetitive irritation of cells in the bowel can lead them to mutate and spread, causing colon cancer. In patients who develop ulcerative colitis, the chances of developing colon cancer increases within 10 years. Therefore it is recommended that patients have regular colonoscopies within eight years of being diagnosed with the disease.