Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic disease of unknown aetiology in which a part or the whole of the mucosa of the large bowel becomes diffusely inflamed and may ulcerate, as a result of which the patient suffers from diarrhoea which may be bloody.

It is characterised by exacerbations and remissions.

Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease is a disorder of unknown aetiology that is characterised pathologically by involvement of all bowel wall layers in a chronic inflammatory process with non-caseating granulomas. The granulomatous inflammation most frequently affects the terminal ileum but it may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract and frequently affected areas are in discontinuity. There is a tendency to form fistulae.