Crohn's Disease

With Crohn's Disease the inflammation can extend through the entire thickness of the intestinal wall and can cause:

• Narrowed areas of the bowel (strictures)
• Micro perforations
• Tunnels between sections of the bowel or the bowel and other organs (fistulae)
• Areas of healthy bowel separated by patches of disease (the healthy areas known as skip lesions

Symptoms of Crohn's disease include:

• Diarrhea
• Abdominal pain
• Rectal bleeding
• Anorexia
• Weight loss

Crohn's Disease can occur in any part of the gastrointestinal tract, from the mouth to the anus. It usually occurs towards the end of the small intestine and the colon.

The five types of Crohn's disease are based on the location within the gastrointestinal tract:

• Gastroduodenal Crohn's Disease - affecting the stomach and the beginning of the small intestine
• Jejunoileitis - affecting the jujunum
• Ileitis - affecting the ileum
• Ileocolitis - affecting the ileum and colon
• Crohn colitis - affecting only the colon

View CT image of acute Crohn's Disease with obstruction (Warning: medical image)

View pictures of normal gut and Crohn's Disease (Warning: medical images)

	Normal Illium
	Normal rectum and anus
	Crohn's Disease - longitudinal ulceration
	Crohn's Disease - longitudinal ulceration
	Crohn's rectum, less involved
	Crohn's Diesease, ulceration of sigmoid colon