Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis
Presentation: N/V, abdominal pain, wt loss, steatorrhea, protein-losing enteropathy
Effects any segment of GI tract, peripheral eosinophilia in 75%
Treatment: steroids
Inflammatory Bowel Disease Crohn’s Disease / Ulcerative colitis
Differential: radiation, ischemia, infections, antibiotics (pseudomembranous colitis), other causes
Genetics: HLA B27, B5-DR2, AW24, BW25 / 10% have positive family history (15-20% of healthy relatives with intestinal hyperpermeability) / inflammation is the common pathway
Crohn’s Disease
General: entire GI tract (33% small bowel alone, 20% colon involvement, generally does NOT affect rectum) / transmural inflammation, creeping fat, granulomas, fistulas, obstructions, psoas/hepatic abscesses (must be drained), systemic manifestations
Epidemiology: Jews >> whites > blacks, developed countries, northern US / bimodal 15 to 25 yrs (more) and 55 to 65 yrs (less)
Pathology: intestinal strictures / sharp demarcations, skip lesions, linear ulcers (may have fistula to bowel, bladder, vagina, rectum, skin, retroperitoneum), non-caseating granuloma (20%), granuloma (crypt abscesses), colon (crypt atrophy, paneth or pyloric metaplasia), lymphoid aggregates/granulomas (50%, may occur in uninvolved regions)
Presentation: insidious or abrupt onset of pain, fever, diarrhea (symptoms may or may not mirror mucosal pathology) / chronic pain, intestinal obstruction, acute inflammation (mimics acute appendicitis) / Pediatric presentation: fever, anemia, arthritis / children also more likely to present with upper GI symptoms
Ddx: appendicitis, Yersinia, lymphoma, intestinal tuberculosis, Behçet’s
Diagnosis: colonoscopy
KUB: ileitis, string sign, skip lesions
Labs: anemia, thrombocytosis, increased ESR, increased CRP orosomucoid, decreased albumin, increased fecal a1AT (not available in all labs), leukocyte scan/excretion / P-ANCA (not MPO) positive in 30%
Systemic Complications:
GI: malabsorption, iron deficiency anemia, steatorrhea (bile malabsorption may also cause oxalate renal stones and cholesterol gall stones) / pathos stomatitis (more common in children) / perianal fistulae and abscess / increased incidence of gallstones (supersaturated biliary cholesterol, not enough bile acids)
Urologic: renal stones (10%, usually after small bowel resection or ileostomy), fistulae, hydronephrosis, amyloidosis (fat malabsorption leads to calcium being taken away to saponify acids, which leads to build-up of oxalic acid)
Liver: hepatic involvement, fatty liver, sclerosing cholangitis (10% in adults, 3% in children) and autoimmune hepatitis (may need to do liver biopsy to differentiate as sometimes involvement is solely intra-hepatic ductal)
Joint: polyarthritis (10-20%, associated with flare-ups, can happen w/out GI Sx / destructive changes not seen), sacroiliitis (20%, progresses independently, similar to ankylosing spondylitis)
Skin: erythema nodosum (!5%), clubbing fingertips, pyoderma gangrenosum (rare)
Eye: uveitis (common) (photophobia, blurred vision, headache)
Cancer risk: minimal (2.5 x normal risk) / insurance won’t pay for annual flexible endoscopy in Crohn’s (2.5 risk)
Treatment:
Medical: see below (steroids) / antibiotics, anti-diarrheal, cholestyramine (for steatorrhea), see (treatment of PSC)
Surgical: operate only when necessary (obstruction, fistula) / recurrence after operation is 50% by 10 years (occurs most at site of anastomosis) / liver transplant only cure for PSC and autoimmune hepatitis
Pediatric: consider surgery in kids to let them go through puberty before recurrence
Prognosis: 10% spontaneous remission, most relapse eventually
Measuring disease status: diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea/vomiting, rectal bleeding (hematochezia only from colonic affects / obstruction), weight loss, fever, growth retardation, fistula, more…
Ulcerative Colitis
Epidemiology: Jews >> whites > blacks, developed countries, northern US / bimodal 15 to 25 yrs (more) and 55 to 65 yrs (less) / 1 in 20,000 / 20% will have 1st degree relative
Presentation: may have more diarrhea than Crohn’s due to circulating secretagogues released from colonic inflammation
Course: continuous inflammation begins in rectum and proceeds proximally, pseudopolyps, normal thickness, serosa / dysplasia / leads to carcinoma (stricture)
Labs: 15% have elevated ESR/CRP during attack (mod-sever > 30), P-ANCA (not MPO) positive in 30%
Complications:
Colonic: toxic megacolon (> 6cm) (follow closely with serial KUB), lead pipe, usually does not have severe bleeding [note: steroids can mask pain of acute abdomen] // Note: start broad spectrum antibiotics (before perforation!, not after!)
Arthritis: monoarticular, asymmetrical, large > small joints, no synovial destruction, NO subcutaneous nodules, seronegative (no RF) / do not treat like RA with NSAIDS / does not resolve with remission of GI disease / ankylosing spondylitis, which may progress even after colectomy
Skin: erythema nodosum (10-50%), pyoderma gangrenosum (1-10%), erythema multiforme, maculopapular eruptions [skin conditions resolve with treatment of GI disease]
Eye: episcleritis, iritis, uveitis (urgent ophthalmology consult, can cause blindness)
Liver: fatty liver (common), sclerosing cholangitis (15%) (85% of sclerosing cholangitis due to UC / indication for liver transplant), cholangiocarcinoma (no liver transplant)
Cancer risk: 10-20% by 20 yrs of disease (increases 1% per year after 7-10 yrs) [not always removed immediately; some say yearly colonoscopy starting 8 yrs after disease begins]
Diagnosis: colonoscopy [pic]
Indications for surgery:
Emergent: hemorrhage (exsanguinations), toxicity and/or perforation (toxic megacolon)
Neoplastic: suspected/confirmed cancer, significant dysplasia
General: growth retardation, systemic complications, intractability
Colectomy with mucosal proctectomy and ileo-anal anastomosis – small bowel mucosa replaces removed colonic mucosa - better than bag, only an increased number of bowel movements, preserves sexual function, complications: infection of pouch (Rx: metronidazole)
Treatment of IBD:
Avoid: anticholinergics, anti-diarrheal, antibiotics (may use metronidazole Crohn’s for overgrowth)
corticosteroids
mainly useful in acute attacks, not for long term prevention
oral prednisone 20-60 mg
parenteral corticosteroids
parenteral ACTH
topical steroids
corticosteroids enema 80-200 mg/d
5-asa compounds
Onset: several weeks / not helpful in acute attacks, but give anyway to get them on board / can maintain remission for variable amount of time using oral-ASA agents
sulfasalazine (best agent, cheaper)
olsalazine (2 5-asa bound) 1.5-3 g/d
oral 5-asa (mesalamine) 1.5-4.8 g/d
topical 5-asa & 4-asa (rectal prep)
mesalamine enema 1-4 g/d
Immunosuppressives: cyclosporin, tacrolimus, MMF, 6-MP / Il-10 (under investigation)
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