Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of inflammatory conditions of

the colon and small intestine. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are the principal types of
inflammatory bowel disease. It is important to note that not only does Crohn's disease affect the
small intestine and large intestine, it can also affect the mouth, esophagus, stomach and the anus
whereas ulcerative colitis primarily affects the colon and the rectum.

Classification
The chief types of inflammatory bowel disease are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC).
Inflammatory bowel diseases fall into the class of autoimmune diseases, in which the body's own
immune system attacks elements of the digestive system. [4]
Accounting for fewer cases are other forms of IBD, which are not always classified as typical IBD:

Microscopic colitis subdivided into collagenous colitis and lymphocytic colitis

Diversion colitis

Behet's disease

Indeterminate colitis

No disease specific markers are currently known in the blood, enabling the reliable separation
of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patients. The way doctorscan tell the difference between
Crohn's disease and UC is the location and nature of the inflammatory changes. Crohn's can affect
any part of the gastrointestinal tract, from mouth to anus (skip lesions), although a majority of the
cases start in the terminal ileum. Ulcerative colitis, in contrast, is restricted to the colon and the
rectum.[6] Microscopically, ulcerative colitis is restricted to the mucosa (epithelial lining of the gut),
while Crohn's disease affects the full thickness of the bowel wall ("transmural lesions"). Lastly,
Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis present with extra-intestinal manifestations (such as liver
problems, arthritis, skin manifestations and eye problems) in different proportions.
In 10%-15% of cases,[7] a definitive diagnosis neither of Crohn's disease nor of ulcerative colitis can
be made because of idiosyncrasies in the presentation. In this case, a diagnosis of indeterminate
colitis may be made. Although a recognised definition, not all centres refer to this.

Signs and symptoms

Signs and symptoms

Crohn's disease

Ulcerative colitis

Often porridge-like,[8]

Often mucus-like

sometimes steatorrhea

and with blood[8]

Tenesmus

Less common[8]

More common[8]

Fever

Common[8]

Indicates severe disease[8]

Fistulae

Common[9]

Seldom

Weight loss

Often

More seldom

Defecation

In spite of Crohn's and UC being very different diseases, both may present with any of the following
symptoms: abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, severe internal cramps/muscle
spasms in the region of the pelvis and weight loss. Anemia is the most prevalent extraintestinal
complication

of

inflammatory

bowel

disease.[10][11] Associated

complaints

or

diseases

include arthritis, pyoderma gangrenosum, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and non-thyroidal illness
syndrome (NTIS).[12] Associations with deep vein thrombosis (DVT)[13] andbronchiolitis obliterans
organizing pneumonia (BOOP) have also been reported.[citation

needed]

Diagnosis is generally by

assessment of inflammatory markers in stool followed by colonoscopywith biopsy of pathological

lesions.