Forms and stages of Crohn's disease

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In recent years, more and more often among inflammatory diseases of the digestive system is diagnosed such a dangerous and almost incurable pathology as Crohn's disease. It has several forms of development( small intestine, large intestine and mixed), in which, in addition to individual manifestations, specialists also distinguish some common ones:

• Stool disorders, which are more pronounced in diarrhea;
• Painful sensations in the abdominal region, intensifying before the defecation process and subsiding after the intestine is emptied;
• Complete intestinal obstruction, manifested in a quarter of cases.

Common signs of all forms of Crohn's disease

All forms of Crohn's disease have similar physiological signs, such as anorexia, malaise, weakness, severe weight loss and fever. In the case when the disease occurs for a long time, it becomes characteristic of such lesions of the anorectal area, as strictures and abscesses. In addition, for all of them, common extraintestinal manifestations are also common: arthritis, pyoderma, ankylosing spondylitis, and erythema nodosum. Among the individual manifestations that are available for each of them, specialists distinguish the following:

1. The small intestine form of Crohn's disease will be characterized by pain similar to appendicular pain and not dependent on the process of defecation. Also, the defeat of the small intestine causes the malabsorption syndrome in the patient( the ability to absorb nutrients is significantly reduced), the violation of bile acid metabolism, which leads to the development of cholelithiasis, and obstructive intestinal obstruction. Also this one is accompanied by the development of iron deficiency anemia arising on the background of chronic, unceasing bleeding from ulcers located on the walls of the small intestine;
2. Colon form of Crohn's disease is accompanied by a loose stool with an admixture of foul-like mucus and blood in it, pain sensations are localized throughout the projection of the abdomen and mostly occur during defecation, the anorectal region is affected by numerous fistulas;
3. The mixed form of this disease is characterized by pain similar to appendicular, appearing in the right side of the abdomen and frequent intestinal obstruction.

Crohn's disease also has a gastric form, which usually affects the main digestive organ and 12-colon. It occurs very rarely and always causes the patient B12-deficiency anemia.

Concomitant Crohn's disease diseases are usually sclerosing cholangitis, arthritis and viral gastroenteritis. Among the clinical stages of this pathological inflammation, the following can be distinguished:

• Acute form of enteritis, which is localized in the ileum, its terminal section and resembles its manifestations of acute appendicitis;
• Chronic enteritis, reminiscent of nonspecific ulcerative colitis with bouts of pain, having a coil-like character, and the appearance of mucus and blood in the stools;
• Another stage of Crohn's disease is stenosing ileitis. The disease that occurs in this form is accompanied by both partial and often complete intestinal obstruction;
• And the fourth stage of this disease - ileitis, which occur with the formation of fistula, internal and external.

Clinical picture of stages of Crohn's disease

Usually this pathology develops at a fairly young age, 20 to 40 years, and more often in men. It begins with an acute form, which is characterized by a sharp abdominal pain, accompanied by disturbances in the stool and a state of nausea, which results in vomiting. Such manifestations of Crohn's disease are similar to acute appendicitis and there are cases when the patient's true diagnosis is recognized only on the operating table.

This pathology also has cases when the pain takes a paroxysmal, increasing character. It usually appears after eating, during urge to defecate and is accompanied by a loose stool, often with an admixture of blood. Crohn's disease, which is in this stage, is accompanied by a significant increase in temperature, which can reach 40 degrees, leukocytosis and, eosinophilia. At a primary visual examination, the abdomen has a slight swelling, which is localized in the right ileal region. During palpation of the rectum, traces of blood are found.

In all clinical stages of Crohn's disease, which are not in acute form, there are always regular changes in the periods of relapses and remissions, since it proceeds according to the chronic type. The most characteristic for it is that the sclerotic process present in the walls of the digestive organs begins to spread very strongly in them and causes the development of multiple complications. Most often arise such as:

• Different types of skin diseases;
• Lesions with ulcerous defects of the oral cavity;
• Pathologies of joints and bone tissue;
• Inflammation of the walls of blood vessels and blood diseases;
• Thromboembolic complications;
• Inflammatory pathologies of the eyes, biliary tract and liver.