Complications of Ulcerative Colitis
How can I avoid ulcerative colitis complications?
Sticking with consistent treatment may help you avoid complications. Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory condition. In most people with UC, symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, and urgency. But sometimes the inflammation can produce other symptoms. That's why controlling inflammation consistently not only helps in treating UC symptoms; it also helps people with UC avoid other complications.
What are the complications that may occur? When inflammation is not controlled, potentially dangerous events can happen.
- Bleeding can cause anemia. This is a common complication, especially if a severe UC flare includes a lot of bleeding. Anemia needs to be treated because it causes fatigue, loss of energy, and shortness of breath.
- Severe inflammation can cause toxic colitis. If untreated UC is severe enough, the disease can force the normal contractions of the intestinal wall to temporarily stop, trapping bile and other intestinal contents. If not addressed, this toxicity can paralyze sections of the colon.
- Toxic megacolon is a life-threatening emergency. This is a dangerous outcome of not treating toxic colitis promptly. The colon may swell tremendously, making the person feverish and ill. This complication also puts the colon at high risk for a puncture or tear. If immediate medical therapy fails to improve the situation, surgery is the best treatment option.
- Colorectal dysplasia and colon cancer occur more often in patients who have IBD. The risk of colon cancer is highest when a person's entire colon is inflamed due to UC and they have had UC for more than 8 to 10 years, even if their disease has been well controlled. Doctors want these higher-risk patients to get a colonoscopy every 1 or 2 years so that tissue samples (biopsies) can be taken and examined for signs of cancer (dysplasia). Early diagnosis of dysplasia or cancer may make all the difference in how well patients do and is the main reason for frequent follow-up and patient monitoring.
