More risks for IBD patients

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease are at risk of much more than the common symptoms of diarrhea and abdominal pain. It is shown that IBD patients are at risk of colon cancer which is cancer that affects the colon and primary sclerosing cholangitis, which is a chronic disorder of the liver in which the ducts carrying bile from the liver to the intestine become inflamed, thickened, scarred (sclerotic), and obstructed. They are also at a high risk of thromboembolism, which is the formation in a blood vessel of a clot (thrombus) that breaks loose and is carried by the blood stream to plug another vessel. Both of these are very serious life threatening events. Thromboembolism can lead to a list of symptoms which include paresthesias, numbness, weakness, kidney failure, stroke and high blood pressure. Until recently however, it was unknown whether IBD patients were at a high risk of getting thromboembolism (TE). Conflicting data showed a variety of results that linked IBD with TE. From the article Is inflammatory bowel disease an independent and disease specific risk factor for thromboembolism? it was confirmed that IBD is in fact a risk factor for TE. The question of why is still being determined. Some believe that it is due to the role of endotoxins which when added to blood samples of IBD patients induced formation of microclots. This clot formation was not induced in healthy patients, suggesting that the effect of endotoxins might be enhanced by an IBD factor. In 60% of TEs in IBD occurred during the presence of complications such as stricture, fistulisation or eruption. There seems to be a specific feature in IBD that was not shown in other inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and another bowel disease, such as coeliac disease. It is very bizarre how just one disease in all its complications and symptoms can lead to so many other problems and diseases that bring about new complications and symptoms. More information about the article on primary sclerosing cholangitis and IBD can be found at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/555670. More information about IBD and colon cancer can be found at http://ibdcrohns.about.com/cs/colorecalcancer/a/ibdcolonrisk.htm.