Progression Guide
Crohn's Disease
Some people have asymptomatic Crohn's disease.
It involves inflammation in part of the intestines but no symptoms. This is also known as silent Crohn's disease.
If you have this type of Crohn's disease, you may not need medication or other treatments. Your doctor will monitor
the condition for signs of change.
Asymptomatic disease
Mild symptoms
Moderate to severe symptoms
Inflammation from Crohn's disease may get less severe during periods of remission and more severe during relapses, also called flare-ups.
More frequent or severe symptom flare-ups may be a sign
that Crohn's is progressing or that your treatment plan
isn't working as well as it should be to limit inflammation.
The goal of Crohn's treatment is achieve remission and
stay there.
Increased flare-ups
Extraintestinal symptoms
Mild inflammation from Crohn's disease may cause some abdominal pain and diarrhea. However, these symptoms are typically not severe enough to significantly affect your quality of life.
You should still be able to eat and drink normally. You shouldn't experience much unintentional weight loss, dehydration, or other complications from Crohn's.
Moderate to severe inflammation from Crohn's may
cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and other symptoms that significantly affect quality of life. You
may find it challenging to meet your nutritional needs with a typical diet.
You may experience unintentional weight loss, dehydration, and other complications, such as intestinal fistula, obstruction, and abscess.
With Crohn's disease, you may experience signs and symptoms of inflammation outside of the intestines. These include sores in the mouth, anus, or area between the anus and genitals; joint stiffness, swelling, or pain; eye redness or pain; and skin rash.
Crohn's disease also increases your risk of certain conditions that affect the liver, pancreas, gallbladder, kidneys, heart, blood vessels, or bones.
Medication is the first-line treatment for Crohn's disease. Your doctor may recommend surgery to remove part of your small or large intestine if medication does not work well enough to limit inflammation and manage symptoms.
In some cases, your doctor may recommend removing
the entire large intestine. They may also recommend surgery to repair an intestinal fistula, obstruction,
or other potential complication of Crohn's.
Need for surgery
Crohn's disease may cause inflammation in the colon, which increases your risk of colorectal cancer. This risk
is even higher if you developed Crohn's disease at
a young age; have lived with it for many years; have widespread and severe inflammation in the colon; have primary sclerosing cholangitis; or have a family history
of colorectal cancer.
If you have these risk factors, your doctor may recommend getting a colonoscopy every 1 to 3 years. Screening
for colorectal cancer can start 8 years after the initial Crohn's diagnosis.
Colorectal cancer risk
