Ulcerative Colitis Flashcards
Define Ulcerative Colitis (UC)?
Chronic relapsing and remitting inflammatory disease affecting the large bowel
What is the main factor behind UC?
Genetic susceptibility
What are some of the other factors involved in UC?
Immune response to bacterial or self-antigens
Environmental factors
Altered neutrophil function
Abnormality in epithelial cell integrity
In percentage of patients is there a positive family history for UC?
15%
What are the associations of UC?
pANCA
PSC (70% of patients with PSC have UC)
What is the epidemiology of UC?
Uncommon before the age of 10 yrs
Peak onset: 20-40 yrs
Equal sex ratio up to the age of 40 yrs (higher in males from then on)
In what ethnicity is UC a higher prevalence?
Ashkenazi Jews
Caucasians
What are the presenting symptoms of UC?
Bloody or mucous diarrhoea (stool frequency depends on severity of disease)
Tenesmus and urgency
Crampy abdominal pain before passing sttol
Weight Loss
Fever
Extra-GI manifestations
What are some examples of Extra-GI manifestations of UC?
Uveitis
Scleritis
Erythema Nodosum
Pyoderma Gangrenosum
What are the signs of UC on physical examination?
Signs of Iron Deficiency Anaemia (e.g. conjunctival pallor)
Dehydration
Clubbing
Abdominal tenderness
Tachycardia
Blood, mucus and tenderness on PR examination
What investigations would you do for UC?
Bloods Stool AXR Flexible Sigmoidoscopy or Colonscopy (and biopsy) Barium Enema
What Bloods would you do for UC?
FBC
High ESR or CRP
Low albumin
X-match if there is severe blood loss
What do you look for specifically on a FBC for UC?
Low Hb
High WCC
Why do we do stool analysis for UC?
Infectious Colitis is a differential diagnosis so a stool culture may be useful
Faecal calprotectin allows differentiation of IBS from IBD
How do we use Faecal Calprotectin?
It is raised in inflammatory processes (i.e IBD)
Both IBS and IBD can present with long-term diarrhoea