Friday, March 29, 2024

Crohn Disease

Practice Essentials

Crohn disease is an idiopathic, chronic inflammatory process that can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from the mouth to the anus (see the image below). Individuals with this condition often experience periods of symptomatic relapse and remission.

Crohn disease. The colonoscopy image reveals a lar

Crohn disease. The colonoscopy image reveals a large ulcer and inflammation of the descending colon in a 12-year-old boy with Crohn disease.

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See Autoimmune Disorders: Making Sense of Nonspecific Symptoms, a Critical Images slideshow, to help identify several diseases that can cause a variety of nonspecific symptoms.

Signs and symptoms

The characteristic presentation in Crohn disease is abdominal pain and diarrhea, which may be complicated by intestinal fistulization or obstruction. Unpredictable flares and remissions characterize the long-term course.

Other signs and symptoms of Crohn disease may include the following:

Rectal bleeding

Fever

Weight loss, anorexia

Nausea, vomiting

Malnutrition, vitamin deficiencies

Generalized fatigability

Bone loss

Psychosocial issues (eg, depression, anxiety, and coping difficulty); pediatric patients may also experience psychological issues regarding quality of life and body image

Growth failure in pediatric patients: May precede gastrointestinal symptoms by years

See Clinical Presentation for more detail.

Diagnosis

Examination for Crohn disease includes the following:

Vital signs: Normal, but possible presence of tachycardia in anemic or dehydrated patients; possible chronic intermittent fever

Gastrointestinal: May vary from normal to those of an acute abdomen; assess for rectal sphincter tone, gross rectal mucosal abnormalities, presence of hematochezia

Genitourinary: May include presence of skin tags, fistulae, ulcers, abscesses, and scarring in the perianal region; nephrolithiasis, hydronephrosis, and enterovesical fistulae

Musculoskeletal: Possible arthritis and arthralgia, particularly of the large joints

Dermatologic: May show pallor or jaundice, mucocutaneous or aphthous ulcers, erythema nodosum, and pyoderma gangrenosum

Ophthalmologic: May reveal episcleritis; possible uveitis

Growth delay: Decreased growth velocity (eg, height), pubertal delay

Hematologic: Hypercoagulable state

Laboratory Tests

Although laboratory results for Crohn disease are nonspecific and are of value principally for facilitating disease management, they may also be used as surrogate markers for inflammation and nutritional status and to screen for deficiencies of vitamins and minerals.

Routine laboratory studies include the following:

CBC count

Chemistry panel

Liver function tests

Inflammatory markers

Stool studies

Serologic tests

Imaging studies

Imaging modalities used for Crohn disease include the following:

Plain abdominal radiography

Barium contrast studies (eg, small bowel follow-through, barium enema, enteroclysis)

CT scanning of the abdomen

CT enterography or magnetic resonance enterography: Replacing small bowel follow-through studies

MRI of the pelvis

Abdominal and/or endoscopic ultrasonography

Nuclear imaging (eg, technetium-99m hexamethyl propylene amine oxime, indium-111)

Fluorine-18-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose scanning combined with positron emission tomography or CT scanning

Procedures

The following procedures may help in the evaluation of Crohn disease:

Endoscopic visualization and biopsy (eg, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, esophagogastroduodenoscopy, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography)

Colonoscopy, ileocolonoscopy

Small bowel enteroscopy

Interventional radiology: For percutaneous drainages of abscesses

See Workup for more detail.

Management

Pharmacotherapy

Medications used in the treatment of Crohn disease include the following:

5-Aminosalicylic acid derivative agents (eg, mesalamine rectal, mesalamine, sulfasalazine, balsalazide)

Corticosteroids (eg, prednisone, methylprednisolone, budesonide, hydrocortisone, prednisolone)

Immunosuppressive agents (eg, mercaptopurine, methotrexate, tacrolimus)

Monoclonal antibodies (eg, infliximab, adalimumab, certolizumab pegol, natalizumab, ustekinumab, vedolizumab)

Antibiotics (eg, metronidazole, ciprofloxacin)

Antidiarrheal agents (eg, loperamide, diphenoxylate-atropine)

Bile acid sequestrants (eg, cholestyramine, colestipol)

Anticholinergic agents (eg, dicyclomine, hyoscyamine, propantheline)

Surgery

Unlike ulcerative colitis, Crohn disease has no surgical cure. Most patients with Crohn disease require surgical intervention during their lifetime.

Surgical management of the terminal ileum, ileocolon, and/or upper gastrointestinal tract may include the following
:

Resection of the affected bowel

Ileocolostomy or proximal loop ileostomy

Drainage of any septic foci with later definitive resection

Strictureplasty

Bypass

Endoscopic dilatation of symptomatic, accessible strictures

Surgical management of the colon may include the following
:

Subtotal or total colectomy with end ileostomy (laparoscopic or open approach)

Segmental or total colectomy with or without primary anastomosis

Total proctocolectomy or proctectomy with stoma creation

See Treatment and Medication for more detail.

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