"What is Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis? Experts Discuss IBD" - Linda Carroll
It’s estimated that IBS affects 10 to 15 percent of adults in the U.S., according to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. IBD is far less common, affecting 1.3 percent of Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are two forms of IBD, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Doctors distinguish between the two by determining what parts of the digestive tract have become inflamed and how many layers of the bowel wall are affected. “Crohn’s can impact anywhere essentially from the mouth to the very end of the anal canal,” said Dr. Marla Dubinsky, chief of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition and co-director of the Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center in New York City. In patients with IBD, the body turns on itself, attacking the gut, which becomes inflamed and painful. For many patients relief can come from newer medications that were developed to target inflammatory proteins that cause all the damage. “Our goal now is to heal the bowel and restore it back to its normal state,” Dubinsky said
— Marla C. Dubinsky, MD, Professor, Pediatrics, Gastroenterology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Chief, Pediatric Gastroenterology, Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital, Co-Director, The Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center, The Mount Sinai Hospital