U | Radiology Key

and Clarisse Dromain²

(1)

Department of Radiology, San Giovanni Hospital, Roma, Italy

(2)

Department of Radiology, Institut de Cancerologie Gustav Roussy, VilleJuif – Paris, France

Abstract

Ulcerative colitis is a common chronic idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease with continuous concentric symmetric colonic involvement (prevalence 50–80/100.000). At pathology a dominant involvement of mucosa and submucosa is reported with edema and cryptic abscess resulting in shallow ulceration.

Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis is a common chronic idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease with continuous concentric symmetric colonic involvement (prevalence 50–80/100.000).

At pathology a dominant involvement of mucosa and submucosa is reported with edema and cryptic abscess resulting in shallow ulceration.

Alternating periods of remission and exacerbation of bloody diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps represent clinical findings. Extracolic manifestations are iritis, erythema nodosum, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and spondylitis.

Ulcerative colitis begins in the rectum with proximal progression.

In some patients the inflammatory process involves the entire colon (pancolitis).

Terminal ileum is often inflamed due to reflux of fecal material from the cecum to the ileum (backwash ileitis).
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