Crohn's Disease Prognosis

Crohn's Disease Prognosis
Crohn's disease causes inflammation of the intestines. It could affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract. The disease is also known as regional enteritis and granulomatous colitis. When persons are affected with Crohn's disease, their autoimmune system attacks the organs of the digestive system swelling them. Medical scientists say that Crohn's disease has genetic links, as the disease is common with siblings whose parents have earlier suffered from the disease.

Crohn's disease has many symptoms. Mainly, it causes stomach pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and weight loss. All the same, symptoms such as skin rashes, eye inflammation and arthritis, which are outside the gastrointestinal tract, are also found. Patients of Crohn's disease may have symptoms for years unknown to them. Usually, the disease affects people when they are in the 15 - 30 age group though it can affects all other age groups as well.

People suffering with Crohn's disease give out many systemic symptoms as well. Growth stagnation is common with children who suffer with the disease. In addition, Acute Myelogenous leukemia and lymphoma can also be seen. Children with Crohn's disease are mainly diagnosed, as they have unusual growth malfunctions.

Retardation of this type can be seen up to 30 percent of children who suffer from Crohn's disease. There may be recurrent fever although this may not be significant with high temperature onsets unless the patient has severe complications such as abscess. Elder patients normally suffer weight loss. This happens, as they are reluctant to take food.

As mentioned earlier, Crohn's disease may affect other organs as well. Eye inflammation (uveitis) is one of the common effects, which gives eye pain whenever the patients look at lights. The inflammation could affect the white part of the eye called sclera as well. This condition is called episcleritis. Both these conditions may cause permanent blindness if they are not treated soon.

In addition, Crohn's disease can cause seronegative spondyloarthorpathy, a type of rheumatologic disease. With this, patients suffer from arthritis or enthesitis. The inflammation of joints may affect large joints as well as small joints such as in the knees, shoulders, and joints of hand and feet. It may affect the spine causing ankylosing spondylitis or one part of spine known as sacroiliitis.

American gastroenterologist Burrill Bernard Crohn first described the disease in 1932. He and his two colleagues found many patients who had inflammation with their terminal ileum and because of this reason the disease was also named regional ileitis. A permanent medicinal or surgical cure for Crohn's disease is yet to be found. Nonetheless, administering the right medications can control the disease.