Interactive Transcript
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Okay, another question that frequently
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gets asked is, "Is the disease Crohn's or is it
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UC?" And it can be difficult clinically
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to decide in certain cases. Oftentimes,
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it's very apparent clinically, but other times it's not known.
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And so, we need to talk a little bit about
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the difference between the two. So we'll go through
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some of the similarities and differences on the
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slide, and then we'll show some cases after that.
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So first of all, Crohn's,
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a feature of it is skip lesions.
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So if you're seeing skip lesions, it's generally
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Crohn's disease, whereas UC should be confluent,
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especially if untreated, it should really
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start at the anus and go up through the cecum.
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Now, an important caveat to that is if someone
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is taking rectal medication, they can have
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anal sparing and sigmoid sparing, and only
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see disease in the right colon, potentially.
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But that's a rarity, and generally
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it should be confluent disease.
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Crohn's can be anywhere from the mouth
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to the anus, whereas ulcerative colitis
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is isolated to the colon generally.
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The one exception is the severe UC case,
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where it can also get back into the ileum
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because of the inflammatory changes
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extending backwashing into the ileum.
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Crohn's is transmural, whereas UC is not transmural.
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And because of the transmural inflammation,
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Crohn's can cause fistula and abscesses.
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UC shouldn't cause fistula because the
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outer walls of the bowel are not involved.
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They both do predispose to adenocarcinoma,
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and they both have extraintestinal manifestations.
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So, just keep those things in mind
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as complications from both diseases.
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So now we'll show a few cases,
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showing some UC and Crohn's and ways you need to
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think about approaching the differential there.
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