Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis: Differences

Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are both chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. They have multifactorial etiologies. The most likely is a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors. An important element in the pathophysiology of these diseases appears to be the impaired mucosal barrier function of the bowel, resulting in bacteria of the normal gut flora entering the mucosa leading to chronic inflammation. An interactive version of this ChalkTalk episode can be found under: www