Acute Ischemic Colitis Acute ischemic colitis refers to an inflammation of the colon (a part of the large intestine) due to impairment of the blood flow to the colon. Sudden left side abdominal pain and blood in the bowel movement, appearing in a person after 50 years of age, are characteristic symptoms. The resulting >> Read More ...
What Is Ischemic Colitis? Ischemic colitis is inflammation of the colon ( a part of the large intestine) due to impaired blood flow (colonic ischemia), usually appearing in persons after 50 years of age. This may trigger sudden (acute) or long term (chronic) abdominal pain, blood in the stool and diarrhea. Injury of >> Read More ...
What is Infectious Colitis? Infectious colitis is inflammation of the colon (the main part of the large intestine) due to infection by bacteria, viruses, protozoa or fungi. It typically causes sudden lower abdominal pain/cramps and diarrhea. Infectious colitis, especially in food poisoning, is often associated with >> Read More ...
The Colon The colon is the part of the large intestine, lying between the cecum and the rectum (Picture 1). It is the muscular tube, which starts in the lower right abdomen as the continuation of the small intestine, runs up as the ascending colon toward the liver, turns left and runs below the rib cage as the >> Read More ...
What are Diverticula? Diverticula (singular ~ diverticulum) are abnormal marble-sized pouches protruding out from the intestinal wall – most often from the sigmoid colon (Picture 1). It is more commonly seen with advancing age. Most of the time diverticula do not pose any significant health problem and may not even >> Read More ...
Pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer are two different conditions that affect the pancreas. One type of pancreatitis known as chronic pancreatitis can increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. Despite the similarity of symptoms in both pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer it is important to understand how these two conditions >> Read More ...
What is Celiac Disease (Celiac Sprue)? Celiac (Greek koiliakos = abdominal) disease is an inherited malabsorption disorder affecting the small intestine, in which symptoms like diarrhea and bloating are triggered by a substance gluten, present in wheat, barley, rye and possibly oats. Celiac disease may be mild or >> Read More ...
What is lactose intolerance? Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest lactose (milk sugar) because of a lactase deficiency. Lactase is an enzyme that breaks down lactose to glucose and galactose, which are normally completely absorbed from the small intestine into the blood. In lactose deficiency, undigested lactose >> Read More ...
What is Crohn’s Disease? Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and may affect any part of the gut, especially the colon and the last part of the small intestine. It usually occurs with nausea, low-grade fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Crohn’s disease may be mild and may >> Read More ...
What is IBS or Spastic Colon? Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a condition where there is abdominal pain with changes in bowel habit, such as diarrhea, constipation or an alternation of both. The diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome is commonly made when these symptoms are present but only if other bowel diseases have >> Read More ...
