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Crohn’s vs. UC

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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.

Report

Faculty

Benjamin Spilseth, MD, MBA, FSAR

Associate Professor of Radiology, Division Director of Abdominal Radiology

University of Minnesota

Tags

Small Bowel

Non-infectious Inflammatory

MRI

Large Bowel-Colon

Idiopathic

Gastrointestinal (GI)

Crohn’s Disease

Body

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