This past week she went to a doctor to look at a hemoroid problem. In addition the Doctor found that a fissure in the rectum had developed. His comments were that this is usually consistent with Crohn's disease in the cases he has seen. Is there anything else she could be doing. Thank you Mike Dear Mike, Crohn s disease often presents with chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain and weight loss.
Some patients have rectal bleeding or fever.
Crohn s disease is certainly part of the differential diagnosis of chronic diarrhea. You mentioned that your sister had a scope , but neglected to mention whether it was a colonoscopy or an upper GI endoscopy. The best way to be sure of the diagnosis of Crohn s disease is to identify characteristic pathologic features on intestinal biopsy. Crohn s disease can affect any portion of the GI tract from mouth to anus. Although fissures are often present in Crohn s disease, fissures are fairly common in the general population and most fissures are isolated findings not present in association with Crohn s disease.