CROHN’S DISEASE – DESCRIPTION
Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract and can affect any part of it from the mouth to the anus.
It is most common at the end of the small bowel just where it joins the large bowel.
The causes are unknown and in many ways, it resembles ulcerative colitis, another chronic inflammatory bowel disorder which most often affects the large bowel.
In about 10 per cent of cases the features may so closely resemble both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis that it is almost impossible to tell the difference between the two.
There is some evidence to suggest that it is more common in some families.
Women are more affected than men, and it can occur at all ages but it is rare in the very young and the very old.
Small ulcers develop in the bowel wall and this is usually followed by thickening and scarring.
It can affect one small portion of the bowel or several different areas with normal bowel in between, but this will depend on which part of the gut is affected.
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