Crohn’s disease is named after Dr. Burrill B. Crohn. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are collectively known as inflammatory bowel diseases. These two diseases have gradually become the most common inflammatory bowel diseases after chronic bacillary dysentery, intestinal parasitic diseases and chronic infectious inflammatory bowel diseases such as tuberculosis became less common. Diagnosis of Crohn’s disease: How do doctors make a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease? The first step is to obtain a complete family history of the patient as well as a history of past illnesses, including questions that address the details of the symptoms; the second is a physical examination. A number of other conditions can cause diarrhea, abdominal pain and even rectal bleeding, so doctors need to rely on a variety of tests to rule out other diseases, such as infectious enteritis. Medication: Crohn’s disease cannot be cured, but there are still treatments available to control it. The mechanism of treatment is to suppress the abnormal inflammation of the intestinal lining, thus allowing the intestine to repair and relieving symptoms such as diarrhea, rectal bleeding and abdominal pain. The two basic goals of treatment are to eliminate symptoms and to maintain a symptom-free state. Some of the symptomatic therapeutic agents may be the same, but they differ in dose and duration of treatment. There is no treatment that can be applied to any patient with Crohn’s disease, as each patient is different and their treatment must be individualized. Some medications have been used for several years, while others are recent breakthroughs in treatment. The most commonly used drugs fall into five main categories: 1. Aminosalicylates: These are compounds similar to aspirin and contain 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA), such as salazosulfapyridine, mesalazine, olsalazine and balsalazide. These drugs can be administered orally or rectally and modulate the body’s ability to initiate and maintain inflammation. It is effective in mild to moderate Crohn’s disease and can also be used to prevent recurrence of the disease. 2. Corticosteroids: These drugs, including prednisone and prednisolone, also work by regulating the body’s ability to initiate and maintain inflammation. In addition, it is able to suppress the immune system. It can be administered orally, rectally or intravenously for moderate to severe Crohn’s disease and is also effective for short-term control of acute attacks, but is not recommended for long-term or maintenance administration due to its side effects. Budesonide is a non-systemic steroid used to treat mild to moderate Crohn’s disease, and it has fewer side effects. Your doctor may add other drugs to maintain treatment when there is a risk of disease recurrence with withdrawal of steroid drugs. 3. Immunomodulators: This group of drugs includes azathioprine, 6-mercaptopurine and cyclosporine. These drugs control the further development of inflammation by suppressing the immune system and are often given orally; they are mostly used in patients for whom aminosalicylates and corticosteroids are ineffective or less effective, and they may also eliminate dependence on corticosteroids and may play a role in maintaining disease remission; they take up to 3 months to work. 4. Biologic therapy: This is the newest class of drugs for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and includes infliximab. It is indicated for patients with moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease who are not sensitive to conventional drugs and may reduce the incidence of intestinal fistulas. Infliximab is an antibody that binds to tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), a protein in the immune system that plays an important role in the development of inflammation. This drug may be an effective agent to assist in steroid withdrawal and as a maintenance drug during remission. Other biologics are currently in clinical trials, adalimumab has been approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, and natalizumab may be used to treat multiple sclerosis. 5. Antibiotics: Methotrexate, ciprofloxacin, and other antibiotics may be effective when Crohn’s disease is complicated by infection (e.g., abscess formation).