Diagnosing Crohn’s Disease

Diagnosing Crohn’s disease can sometimes be challenging and various tests are often required to assist the physician in making the diagnosis. Even with a full series of tests, it still may impossible to diagnose Crohn’s disease with whole conviction. A colonoscopy is about 70% effective in diagnosing Crohn’s disease with further being less effective.

The disease in small bowel is mainly difficult to diagnose as traditional colonoscopy only allows access to the colon and lower part of the small intestines. In this article, we are going to discuss about several types of diagnosing Crohn’s Disease.

• Endoscopy – A colonoscopy is the best test for diagnosing Crohn’s disease since it allows straight visualization of the colon and the terminal ileum, recognizing the pattern of the disease participation. Rarely, the colonoscope can trek past the fatal ileum; however, it varies from patient to patient. A gastroenterologist who performs the procedure can also present a biopsy, captivating small sample tissue for laboratory analysis which actually may help prove a diagnosis.
• Radiologic Test – it may suggest the diagnosis of Crohn’s disease and is functional when the disease involves only the small intestines. Since colonoscopy and gastroscopy allows only visualization of only the terminal ileum and beginning of the duodenum, they cannot be used to assess the residue of the small intestine. Thus, a barium follow- through x-ray, in which barium sulfate suspension is ingested and fluoroscopic images of the bowel are taken through time.
• Blood Test – An inclusive blood count may disclose anemia, which may be the reason either by blood loss or vitamin B12 deficiency, later, it may be seen with ileitis because vitamin B12 is being absorbed in the ileum. Inline with this, anemia of chronic disease is another cause of anemia; it is characterized by its microcytic and hypochromic anemia. There can be several reasons for anemia, including medication used in treatment of inflammatory bowel disease like azathioprine which can be lead to cytopenia and sulfasalazine that can also affect folate malabsorption, etc. Anti-Saccharomvces cerevisae antibodies (ASCA) and anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) testing have been evaluated to identify inflammatory diseases of the intestines and to distinguish Crohn’s disease from ulcerative colitis.
• Feces – The fecal concentration associates well with irritation and disease action. Calprotectin is a protein that can be found in neutrophil cytosol. These are essential to the inflammatory process caused by Crohn’s disease. Fecal Calprotectin is protein deliberated in a patient’s feces. Feces can actually help diagnosing Crohn’s disease.

These diagnostic tests can actually help you to know if you have this kind of disease and prone to it as well.