Inflamitory vs Penetrating

[kenny]

I was wondering if people are making a distinction between Inflammatory Crohns and Penetrating Crohns. Had it ever come up in your diagnosis?

I went to see my family doctor before Christmas now that my surgeon is satisfied with the outcome of his work. My Gp told me flat out I had Fistulizing Crohns, which is also known as Penetrating, and it was beyond his abilities to deal with. I have since been back to the GI clinic, where the Surgeon worked, and saw another guy who takes care of ongoing treatment at that clinic. He is the one who set me up with Imuran.

But I wonder, does inflammatory bowel disease naturally progress to the point of getting holes? If it gets caught earlier can they stop it from going that far? Or is it a different variation/expression of the disease?

I see a lot of people having trouble with colon/rectal problems. And many others like me with illium/ascending colon difficulties. I am also wondering how common it is for our intestine to start linking up with fistulas.

During my interwebz search activities I have started to see two methods of classifying the disease. Montreal and Vienna. Am I just getting hung up on an out-of-date way of looking at the disease?

 

[imisspopcorn]

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=8438

I have always wondered why some people fistulize and others don't....Here is a link to a survey...There is also an article on here about this subject...I was closee to perforation of the small bowel, but never formed a fistula.....I believe it has to do with the number different genes that are affected in each person. There is no ONE particular gene responsible so the disease expresses itself differently depending on which gene is malfunctioning. Very interesting IMO.

 

[kenny]

That was very good article to tie a lot of the various approaches together.

at the risk of hijacking my own thread I want to point out that for those of us in Canada the GEM Project now wants your children :ycool:

Or maybe everyone already knows that and I am on the tail end as usual :shifty-t:

http://www.gemproject.ca/

Maybe studies like this will help to answer some of these questions.

 

[Peaches]

Hmmm, Kenny do you know if they have something like that here in the US? Interesting concept - hopefully they can get some good information compiled with that!

 

[pb4]

I once read that for those that are prone to fistulizing crohn's there's a specific bacterial connection to them as well as a specific genetic connection...of course I don't remember all the details, or much more than what I just stated, thank CD brain-fog for that LOL!