This is a long post...please forgive me.
I am 37 years old and have had Crohn's for 16 years. In 1999 (2 years after diagnosis) I had surgery because of a stricture in my terminal ileum, which was discovered during a small bowel follow through. All of the diseased bowel was removed - around 1 foot between the ileum and some colon.
Fast forward to this year. I have another stricture, at the same spot, that was confirmed in May via small bowel follow through. The radiologist showed me the stricture while he was doing the fluoroscopy, and it was quite obvious. My doc was thinking there may be some element of inflammation contributing to it because of the active disease he saw there during my colonoscopy just prior to the small bowel follow through. So, he got me started on Humira in August (insurance wouldn't approve until then). The Humira did wonders for a couple of months.
Now I am back to being about as bad as before I started the Humira. So my doc thinks the stricture is tightening and past the point of being helped by meds. So he ordered a CT scan to get a better idea of the severity of the stricture. I have read the radiologist's report, but have yet to speak to my doc (he doesn't work today...grrrrr!!!). The report mentions NOTHING about a stricture and nothing about evidence of a previous surgery. (Even the radiologist who did my small bowel follow through earlier this year could tell I had surgery, because the small bowel hooks up to the colon in a different spot and I'm obviously missing some colon.) The report notes diffuse thickening of the terminal ileum and lymph node changes, both of which are attributed to my history of Crohn's.
Shouldn't a stricture be obvious on CT?? I really don't believe it is possible to be completely gone. I'm sure I will always have some amount of stricture there because of my previous surgery. Can "diffuse thickening" be interpreted as a stricture? I just wanted to get some thoughts here, as my brain is going crazy waiting until Monday to talk to my doc. Thanks for any input!
I am 37 years old and have had Crohn's for 16 years. In 1999 (2 years after diagnosis) I had surgery because of a stricture in my terminal ileum, which was discovered during a small bowel follow through. All of the diseased bowel was removed - around 1 foot between the ileum and some colon.
Fast forward to this year. I have another stricture, at the same spot, that was confirmed in May via small bowel follow through. The radiologist showed me the stricture while he was doing the fluoroscopy, and it was quite obvious. My doc was thinking there may be some element of inflammation contributing to it because of the active disease he saw there during my colonoscopy just prior to the small bowel follow through. So, he got me started on Humira in August (insurance wouldn't approve until then). The Humira did wonders for a couple of months.
Now I am back to being about as bad as before I started the Humira. So my doc thinks the stricture is tightening and past the point of being helped by meds. So he ordered a CT scan to get a better idea of the severity of the stricture. I have read the radiologist's report, but have yet to speak to my doc (he doesn't work today...grrrrr!!!). The report mentions NOTHING about a stricture and nothing about evidence of a previous surgery. (Even the radiologist who did my small bowel follow through earlier this year could tell I had surgery, because the small bowel hooks up to the colon in a different spot and I'm obviously missing some colon.) The report notes diffuse thickening of the terminal ileum and lymph node changes, both of which are attributed to my history of Crohn's.
Shouldn't a stricture be obvious on CT?? I really don't believe it is possible to be completely gone. I'm sure I will always have some amount of stricture there because of my previous surgery. Can "diffuse thickening" be interpreted as a stricture? I just wanted to get some thoughts here, as my brain is going crazy waiting until Monday to talk to my doc. Thanks for any input!
). I ended up have 50 cm of stricture removed. So my radiologist was way off on the length. Your GI will have to interpret the findings.
