Inflammatory bowel disease
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Inflammatory bowel disease, abbreviated IBD, is the bread 'n butter of gastroenterology. It exists in two main flavours:
- Crohn's disease (CD).
- Ulcerative colitis (UC).
Clinical
- It is important to differentiate UC and CD as the management is different.
- UC patients get pouches... CD patients do not.
Epidemiology:
- NOD2/CARD15 variants are assoc. with stricturing CD, early need for surgery and recurrence.[1]
Microscopic
Features helpful for the diagnosis of IBD - as based on a study:[2]
- Basal, i.e. crypt base, plasmacytosis with severe chronic inflammation,
- Crypt architectural abnormalities, and
- Distal Paneth cell metaplasia.
Notes:
- Microscopic features can be remembered by mnemonic CPP: Crypts (abnormal), Plasmacytosis, Paneth cells where they don't belong.
- If you see architectural distortion (e.g. crypt branching) in the left colon, look for Paneth cells.
- The hepatic flexure is considered the divider for normal paneth cells and abnormal paneth cells, i.e. paneth cells proximal to the hepatic flexure are normal; paneth cells distal to the hepatic flexure are abnormal.[5]
Crohn's disease vs. ulcerative colitis
UC features:[6]
- Mucosal involvement --sometimes submucosa.
- No skip lesions.
- Colon/rectum only.
- UC may have 'ileal backwash' -- mild ileal inflammation due to backwash of inflammatory soup from colon.
- "No granulomas".
Example of a superficial granuloma that is non-specific, i.e. this could be UC or CD:
Ulcerative colitis
General
- Often abbreviated as UC.
Epidemiology
- Associated with sclerosing cholangitis.
- Appendicitis is considered protective against UC.[9][10]
- Smoking is protective; the opposite is true for Crohn's disease.[10]
Gross
- Conventionally considered to be contiguous, i.e. no "skip lesions", with rectal involvement being most severe.
- Dependent on the study one reads... rectal sparing may be seen in 15% of UC patients.[11]
Microscopic
- Lack of granulomas.
- No full wall-thickness inflammation.
Crohn's disease
General
- Often abbreviated as CD.
Gross
- Transmural inflammation, i.e. full thickness of bowel wall.
- Creeping fat.
- Cobblestone appearance -- may be described as such on endoscopy.
- Serpiginous ulcers.
Microscopic
Features:[2]
- Segmental crypt architectural abnormalities,
- Mucin depletion,
- Mucin preservation at the active sites, and
- Focal chronic inflammation without crypt atrophy.
See also
References
- ↑ Alvarez-Lobos M, Arostegui JI, Sans M, et al. (November 2005). "Crohn's disease patients carrying Nod2/CARD15 gene variants have an increased and early need for first surgery due to stricturing disease and higher rate of surgical recurrence". Ann. Surg. 242 (5): 693–700. PMC 1409853. PMID 16244543. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1409853/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tanaka M, Riddell RH, Saito H, Soma Y, Hidaka H, Kudo H (January 1999). "Morphologic criteria applicable to biopsy specimens for effective distinction of inflammatory bowel disease from other forms of colitis and of Crohn's disease from ulcerative colitis". Scand. J. Gastroenterol. 34 (1): 55–67. PMID 10048734.
- ↑ Tanaka M, Saito H, Kusumi T, et al (December 2001). "Spatial distribution and histogenesis of colorectal Paneth cell metaplasia in idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease". J. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 16 (12): 1353–9. PMID 11851832. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/resolve/openurl?genre=article&sid=nlm:pubmed&issn=0815-9319&date=2001&volume=16&issue=12&spage=1353.
- ↑ Rubio CA, Nesi G (2003). "A simple method to demonstrate normal and metaplastic Paneth cells in tissue sections". In Vivo 17 (1): 67–71. PMID 12655793.
- ↑ STC. 14 December 2009.
- ↑ Cotran, Ramzi S.; Kumar, Vinay; Fausto, Nelson; Nelso Fausto; Robbins, Stanley L.; Abbas, Abul K. (2005). Robbins and Cotran pathologic basis of disease (7th ed.). St. Louis, Mo: Elsevier Saunders. pp. 850. ISBN 0-7216-0187-1.
- ↑ Shepherd, NA. (Aug 2002). "Granulomas in the diagnosis of intestinal Crohn's disease: a myth exploded?". Histopathology 41 (2): 166-8. PMID 12147095.
- ↑ Mahadeva, U.; Martin, JP.; Patel, NK.; Price, AB. (Jul 2002). "Granulomatous ulcerative colitis: a re-appraisal of the mucosal granuloma in the distinction of Crohn's disease from ulcerative colitis.". Histopathology 41 (1): 50-5. PMID 12121237.
- ↑ Beaugerie, L.; Sokol, H. (Aug 2009). "Appendicitis, not appendectomy, is protective against ulcerative colitis, both in the general population and first-degree relatives of patients with IBD.". Inflamm Bowel Dis. doi:10.1002/ibd.21064. PMID 19685454.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Timmer, A.; Obermeier, F. (2009). "Reduced risk of ulcerative colitis after appendicectomy.". BMJ 338: b225. PMID 19273505.
- ↑ Bernstein CN, Shanahan F, Anton PA, Weinstein WM (September 1995). "Patchiness of mucosal inflammation in treated ulcerative colitis: a prospective study". Gastrointest. Endosc. 42 (3): 232-7. PMID 7498688.