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Treating Ulcerative Colitis

Colitis Colitis Basics

What Is Ulcerative Colitis?

Summary & Participants

Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease or IBD that causes chronic inflammation of the colon or large intestine. Here's what you need to know about this disease.

Medically Reviewed On: July 18, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease or IBD that causes chronic inflammation of the colon or large intestine.

DAVID RUBIN, MD: Patients who have ulcerative colitis develop inflammation and erosions, or destruction, of the lining of the large intestine, and because of that, they have symptoms of loose stools and diarrhea with urgency, and often bleeding.

ANNOUNCER: Ulcerative colitis is closely related to another IBD, called Crohn’s disease. They can share similar symptoms, but they also have distinct differences.

DAVID RUBIN, MD: Ulcerative colitis is characterized primarily by involvement of the large intestine. Crohn’s disease, on the other hand, is a condition in which you can have this type of inflammation, but it may involve any portion of the GI tract, from the mouth all the way through the stomach, small intestine, large intestine and even perianal area, around the anus.

ANNOUNCER: More than 500,000 Americans have been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. While it affects people of all races, it seems to be more prevalent in certain populations.

STEPHEN HANAUER, MD: Primarily the upper socioeconomic groups develop ulcerative colitis. So, for instance, in third world countries, we only see it in the affluent, and in the evolving countries it’s the city people and the more affluent people who develop ulcerative colitis first. That means, we think, that being exposed to bacteria or poor sanitation is probably protective against the development of ulcerative colitis.

DANIEL PRESENT, MD: This is a disease one sees in the late teens, early 20s, and this is what makes it a terrible disease, in that those are the times when people are forming their personality, going off to school, starting to date, and so it impinges on what will be their quality of life, having to deal with an illness while they're dealing with growing up.

ANNOUNCER: Although the exact cause of the disease is unknown, researchers believe that a combination of factors is involved.

STEPHEN HANAUER, MD: We believe that there are two components to ulcerative colitis. The first is a genetic disposition to getting the condition, and then the second is a trigger from the environment. And when we talk about the environment, we talk about what’s inside our intestine, which is probably some form of a bacteria or other infectious agent that starts the inflammation, and then the body continues it or perpetuates it and is unable to shut down the inflammation as it would in an infection.

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