1. Ulcerative Colitis Slideshow Pictures
2. Inflammatory Bowel Disease Slideshow
3. Take the Ulcerative Colitis Quiz

Medical Author:

Adam Schoenfeld, MD

Medical Author:

George Y. Wu, MD, PhD

Medical Editor:

Jay W. Marks, MD

Jay W. Marks, MD

Jay W. Marks, MD, is a board-certified internist and gastroenterologist. He graduated from Yale University School of Medicine and trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology at UCLA/Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

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In this Article

• Ulcerative colitis facts
• What is ulcerative colitis?
• What causes ulcerative colitis?
• What are the symptoms of ulcerative colitis?
• How is the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis made?
• What are the complications of ulcerative colitis?
• What are the treatments for ulcerative colitis?
• What are ulcerative colitis medications?
• 5-ASA Compounds
• Systemic corticosteroids (including side effects)
• Golimumab (Simponi)
• What are immunomodulator medications?
• Summary of medication treatment
• Surgery for ulcerative colitis
• Treatment by disease severity and location (based on ACG Practice Guidelines)
• Are there any special dietary requirements for persons with ulcerative colitis?
• What research is being done regarding ulcerative colitis?
• Ulcerative Colitis FAQs
• Patient Comments: Ulcerative Colitis - Treatments
• Patient Comments: Ulcerative Colitis - Symptoms
• Patient Comments: Ulcerative Colitis - Complications
• Find a local Gastroenterologist in your town
• Ulcerative Colitis Index

Active research is also ongoing to find other biological agents that are potentially more effective with fewer side effects in treating ulcerative colitis including adalimumab, visilizumab, and alpha-4 integrin blockers.

Research in ulcerative colitis is very active, and many questions remain to be answered. The cause, mechanism of inflammation, and optimal treatments have yet to be defined. Researchers have recently identified genetic differences among patients which may allow them to select certain subgroups of patients with ulcerative colitis who may respond differently to medications. Newer and safer medications are being developed. Improvements in surgical procedures to make them safer and more effective continue to emerge.

Health Maintenance

It is recommended that adults with inflammatory bowel disease generally follow the same vaccination schedules as the general population.

• Adults should receive a 1 time dose of Tdap, then Td booster every 10 years.
• Women between the ages of 9 and 26 should receive 3 doses of HPV vaccine (and consideration should be given to older patients who are HPV negative on Pap smear).
• Men in the same age range should also consider being vaccinated given the increased risk of HPV with immunosuppression.
• Influenza (flu) vaccine should be given annually to all patients (though the live intranasal vaccine is contraindicated in patients on immunosuppressive therapy).
• One dose of pneumococcal vaccine should be given between age 19-26 and then revaccination after 5 years.
• If not previously vaccinated, all adults should receive 2 doses of hepatitis A vaccine and 3 doses hepatitis B.
• Meningococcal vaccine is only recommended for patients with anatomic or functional asplenia, terminal complement deficiencies, or others at higher risk (college students, military recruits, etc).
• MMR, varicella, and zoster vaccines (shingles vaccine) are contraindicated for patients on biologic therapy, as they are all live vaccines.

Osteoporosis has also increasingly been recognized as a significant health problem in patients with IBD. IBD patients tend to have markedly reduced bone mineral densities. Screening with a bone density study is recommended in:

• postmenopausal woman,
• men > age 50,
• patients with prolonged steroid use (>3 consecutive months or recurrent courses),
• patients with a personal history of low-trauma fractures, and
• patients with hypogonadism.

For this reason, most patients with IBD should be on calcium and vitamin D supplementation.

REFERENCES:

Balatsos, V et al. Adalimumab in patients with ulcerative colitis. Annals of Gastroenterology (2010) 23, 1: 64-66.

Burisch, EM et al. A new rapid home test for faecal calprotectin in ulcerative colitis. Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics (2010) 31, 2: 323-330.

Feagan, BG et al. Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis with a Humanized Antibody to the α4β7 Integrin. The New England Journal of Medicine (2005) 352: 2499-507.

Fisher, SA et al. Genetic Determinants of ulcerative colitis include the ECM1 locus and five loci implicated in Crohn's disease. Nature Genetics (2008) 40, 6: 710-712.

Franke, A et al. Genome-wide association study for ulcerative colitis identifies risk loci at 7q22 and 22q13 (IL17REL). Nature Genetics (2010) 42, 4: 292-294.

Johnson KT et al. Evaluation of colitis: usefulness of CT enterography technique. Emergency Radiology (2009) 16, 4: 277-282.

Kao, J et al. Inducing and Maintaining Remission in Ulcerative Colitis: Role of High-dose, Extended-release Mesalamine. Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology (2010) 44: 531-535.

Kornbluth, A and Sachar, D. Ulcerative Colitis Practice Guidelines in Adults: American college of Gastroenterology, Practice Parameters Committee. The American Journal of Gastroenterology. (2010) 105: 501-523.

Laclotte, OA et al. Long-term outcome of adalimumab therapy for ulcerative colitis with intolerance or lost response to infliximab: a single-centre experience. Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. (2008) 28, 8: 966-972.

Lichtenstein, GR et al. Management of Crohn's Disease in Adults. The American Journal of Gastroenterology (2009), 1-19.

McGovern, DP et al. Genome-wide association identifies multiple ulcerative colitis susceptibility loci. Nature Genetics (2010) 42, 4: 332-339.

Mehdizadeh, S et al. Diagnostic yield of capsule endoscopy in ulcerative colitis and inflammatory bowel disease of unclassified type (IBDU). Endoscopy (2008) 40: 30-35.

Moscandrew, M, Mahadevan, U, and Kane, S. General Health Maintenance in IBD. Inflammatory Bowel Disease (2009) 15, 1399-1409.

Palm, O et al. Prevalence of ankylosing spondylitis and other spondyloarthropathies among patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a population study (The IBSEN Study). The Journal of Rheumatology (2002) 29: 511-515.

Plevy, S et al. A Phase I Study of Visilizumab, a Humanized Anti-CD3 Monoclonal Antibody in Severe Steroid-Refractory Ulcerative Colitis. Gastroenterology (2007) 133: 1414-1422.

Rahier, JF et al. European evidence-based Consensus on the prevention, diagnosis and management of opportunistic infections in inflammatory bowel disease. Journal of Crohn's and Colitis (2009).

Sherlock, ME et al. Oral budesonide for induction of remission in ulcerative colitis. Cochrane Database Systematic Reviews (2010, Oct 6).

Silverberg, MS et al. Ulcerative colitis – risk loci on chromosome 1p36 and 12q15 found by genome-wide association study. Nature Genetics (2009) 41, 2: 216-220.

Solberg, IC et al. Clinical course during the first 10 years of ulcerative colitis: results from a population-based inception cohort (IBSEN Study). Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology (2009) 44: 431-440.

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Travis, SPL et al. European evidence-based Consensus on the diagnosis and management of ulcerative colitis: Current management. Journal of Crohn's and Colitis (2008) 2, 24-62.

VanRheenen, PF, Van de Vijver, E and Fidler, V. Faecal calprotectin for screening of patients with suspected inflammatory bowel disease: diagnostic meta-analysis. British Medical Journal (2010) 341:c3369.

Vella, M, Masood, MR, and Hendry WS. Surgery for ulcerative colitis. Surgeon (2007) 5, 6; 356-62.