Mgmt of Crohn's Disease in Adults (2018) Flashcards
what are the hallmark/cardinal symptoms of Crohn’s?
abdominal pain chronic diarrhea (MC - most common) fatigue (likely 2/2 chronic inflammation, anemia, vitamin/mineral deficiencies) weight loss fever growth failure anemia recurrent fistulas extra intestinal manifestations
Is Crohn’s a pathologic, radiographic, clinical, or other type of dx?
clinical
there are no truly pathognomonic features
in general, it’s the presence of chronic intestinal inflammation that solidifies a dx of Crohn’s.
what features help distinguish Crohn’s from UC?
Crohn's: discontinuous involvement w/ skip areas sparing of the rectum deep/linear/serpiginous ulcers of the colon strictures fistulas granulomatous inflammation
what is backwash ileitis
presence of ileitis in pt w/ extensive colitis. w/ this feature, difficult to determine IBD subtype
What are the extra intestinal manifestations of Crohn’s?
classic ones: arthropathy (both axial and peripheral) term findings (pyoderma gangrenous, EN) ocular (uveitis, scleritis, episcleritis) hepatobiliary (PSC)
less common: thromboembolic (both venous and arterial) metabolic bone dz osteonecrosis cholelithiasis nephrolithiasis
what is the natural course of Crohn’s?
in most cases, chronic, progressive, destructive.
over time, the chronic intestinal inflammation leads to strictures, fistulas, abscesses.
what is the Lemann index?
quantifies degree of bowel damage from intestinal complications and subsequent surgery
in one study from Olmsted County, MN what was the median level of bowel resected?
64cm
what is the intestinal distribution of Crohn’s? Does the distribution usually change w/ time? are its constantly symptomatic?
approx 1/3 in:
- ileal
- ileocolonic
- colonic
only 6-14% of its will have change in disease location over time
symptoms of Crohn’s usually occur as chronic, intermittent course
What percentage of pts will develop intestinal complications (e.g. stricture, abscess, fistula, phlegm) w/n 20 yrs of dx?
about 50%
involvement of what part of the GI tract in Crohn’s disease is associated more w/ intestinal complications?
involvement of ideal, ileocolonic, and proximal GI tract
what percentage of Crohn’s pts will be lucky to have non progressing, indolent disease course over the long term?
only 20-30% of pts
everyone else will need to be actively monitored to achieve inflammation control
do pt’s symptoms correlate w/ level of active inflammation?
no
therefore, symptoms should not be the sole guide for therapy.
objective evals by endoscopy and imaging must be done periodically to avoid errors of under-or-over treatment.
what would happen to Crohn’s disease pts if there were no biologic or immunomodulating tx?
up to half of its would develop dependency and/or resistance to steroids
what risk factors increase Crohn’s pt risk of colorectal CA?
duration of disease extent of colonic involvement PSC fam h/o CRC severity of ongoing colonic inflammation
what other GI malignancy are Crohn’s its at increased risk of getting?
if small bowel involvement of Crohn’s, small bowel adenoma (18 fold increase risk; but the absolute risk remains low; approx 0.3 cases per 1,000 pt years)
how do you dx Crohn’s?
a combo of findings - clinical presentation, endoscopic findings, radiologic, histologic, and pathologic findings that demonstrate some degree of:
focal
asymmetric
transmural granulomatous inflammation
what labs do you order for initial eval for pt w/ symptoms for active Crohn’s?
depends on presentation
stool testing, including for fecal pathogens, C diff. also fecal calprotectin
fecal calprotectin helps distinguish b/w IBD and IBS (strong rec; mod ev)
what are common lab findings for active Crohn’s?
e/o inflammation - anemia nad thrombocytosis are most common
CRP (acute phase reactant made by liver) goes up for some pts as well
what makes CRP a useful marker for monitoring inflammation?
it has a short half life (19 hrs)
does ESR help distinguish b/w Crohn’s pts w/ IBS and healthy controls?
no
what is fecal calprotectin?
calcium binding protein derived from neutrophils; plays a role in regulation of inflammation
what is fecal lactoferrin?
iron-binding protein found in secondary granules of neutrophils
these serve as noninvasive markers of intestinal inflammation
may be useful in differentiating pts w/ BID vs pts w/ IBS
overall, fecal markers may also be useful in monitoring dz activity and response to tx
at this time, there is no role for genetic testing in the dx of Crohn’s. However, what are some better-known genetic loci associated w/ Crohn’s and how do they work?
ROLE IN INNATE IMMUNITY AND REGULATION OF EPITHELIAL BARRIER:
- NOD2 (predicts more complicated disease behavior, incl ideal involvement, stenosis, and penetrating disease, and need for surgery)
- IL-23R
- ATG16L1 (autophagy-related 16-like 1)
- IL12B (a/w need for early surgery)
what is goal of endoscopy for dx of Crohn’s? why?
get a sense of disease distribution and severity via biopsies
colonoscopy w/ intubation of TI + biopsy
severity and extent of disease is important as it has implications for CRC screening, disease prognosis, and therapeutic decisionmaking