Ulcerative Colitis Information Centre

What is Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis is a disease that affects around 120,000 people in the UK and causes inflammation of the large intestine - or colon. Symptoms vary in severity from pain and discomfort, through mucous in the stools to in the most severe cases blood in the stools see the Colitis Symptoms page for more information. It is generally diagnosed by inspection of the colon by a hospital consultant - a colonoscopy.

The underlying cause of ulcerative colitis is still not known - though the disease is associated with dysfunction of the immune system. In the disease the body's own T-cells attack the lining of the bowel - and hence cause it to be inflamed. The body's immune system then takes this inflammation to be a further sign of infection - increasing the immune response - in a vicious cycle. This situation is what people would term a flare-up.

Ulcerative colitis is treated using a variety of medications designed to either directly reduce the inflammation - such as steroids - or to reduce the immune response such a immunomodulators.

More:
Ulcerative Colitis Information Centre