What is the Difference between Ulcerative Colitis, Crohns Disease, IBD, and IBS?
Ulcerative Colitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which differs from Crohn’s disease, another inflammatory bowel disease. Ulcerative Colitis affects only the colon, while Crohn’s can affect any area of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, including the small intestine. With Ulcerative Colitis, the inflammation usually involves the entire rectum and extends up the colon in a continuous manner. There are no areas of normal intestine between the areas of diseased intestine. In contrast, patients diagnosed with Crohn’s disease may have such so-called “skip” areas in the intestine. While Ulcerative Colitis affects only the innermost lining of the colon, Crohn’s disease can affect the entire thickness of the bowel wall. IBD, Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are different from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a disorder that affects the motility (muscle contractions) of the colon. IBS, is not characterized by intestinal inflammation. It is, therefore, a much less serious dise
