What symptoms would help a health care provider distinguish between ulcerative colitis and Crohn disease?

Answer 1

Ulcerative colitis typically presents with continuous inflammation of the colon, leading to symptoms such as bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, and urgency to defecate. In contrast, Crohn's disease can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract and often presents with symptoms like abdominal pain, weight loss, and fatigue, along with possible fistulas or strictures. The presence of skip lesions (areas of healthy tissue between inflamed sections) is more characteristic of Crohn's disease, while ulcerative colitis usually shows a uniform pattern of inflammation. Additionally, extraintestinal manifestations such as skin lesions or joint pain may occur in both, but the specific patterns can help differentiate the two.