Inflammatory bowel disease is a general term for a group of intestinal inflammatory diseases, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. This disease is usually recurrent and persistent, and may present with abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss, and blood in the stool. There are significant geographical and ethnic differences in its incidence, with a high prevalence in North America and Northern Europe and a lower incidence in Asia, but its incidence has continued to increase worldwide in recent decades. In China, in general, ulcerative colitis is less common than in Europe and the United States, and the disease is generally mild, but the prevalence has increased in recent years, and severe disease has been reported repeatedly, while Crohn’s disease is relatively uncommon. The peak age of onset of inflammatory bowel disease is 15-25 years old, but it can also be seen in children or the elderly, and there is no significant difference in the incidence of men and women. Why does inflammatory bowel disease occur? To date, the exact cause of inflammatory bowel disease is not fully understood. Some researchers believe that the disease may be related to microbial infections or autoimmune factors, and have found that the disease runs in families, but is not contagious. How is inflammatory bowel disease diagnosed? Inflammatory bowel disease often has clinical manifestations such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, blood in stool, fever, and emaciation. Diagnosis can be made based on these clinical manifestations, combined with various blood tests, stool examinations, and colonoscopy and barium enema X-ray examinations. Colonoscopy, in particular, plays a pivotal role in the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease. How to treat inflammatory bowel disease? For patients with inflammatory bowel disease, rest, diet and nutrition are very important. The physician will ask the patient to limit the intake of dietary fiber or dairy products according to the symptoms, and pay attention to protein, multivitamins and trace elements. Patients should also learn to regulate their emotions and reduce their mental burden. The main drugs used to treat inflammatory bowel disease are aminosalicylic acid preparations, glucocorticoids, immunosuppressants, antibiotics, etc. At present, the commonly used aminosalicylic acid preparations include salazosulfapyridine, olsalazine, mesalazine, etc. For patients with poor efficacy of aminosalicylic acid preparations, glucocorticoids (such as prednisone, etc.) should be added, and immunosuppressants can be applied when necessary. Certain antibiotics such as metronidazole are effective in controlling the disease activity of Crohn’s disease. Severely ill patients with severe complications (such as intestinal perforation, hemorrhage, intestinal obstruction, etc.) who have failed to respond to aggressive medical treatment need to be treated surgically. Because of the long course of inflammatory bowel disease, which is recurrent and prolonged, patients are usually accompanied by depression, so antidepressants can be taken if necessary. Issues to note: Inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer! Ulcerative colitis can increase the risk of cancer in the large intestine. A foreign statistic shows that the cancer rate of patients with left hemicolectasis is 2.8 times higher than normal, that of patients with total colitis is 15 times higher than normal, and that the cancer rate of patients with total colitis starting at a young age is even 162 times higher than that of non-patients! Regular colonoscopy and colonoscopic biopsy are effective methods for early detection of cancerous lesions. Since the risk of developing cancer is related to the degree and duration of inflammation, not the activity of inflammation, regular colonoscopy review is also necessary for patients in remission. The relationship between colorectal cancer and Crohn’s disease is currently controversial. Statistically, patients with Crohn’s disease have a significantly lower risk of developing colorectal cancer than patients with ulcerative colitis. This may be related to the fact that most patients with Crohn’s disease have undergone partial bowel segment resection due to the long duration of the disease and the development of complications.