Pseudomembranous Colitis (Ischemic Colitis)

Ischemic Colitis

Pseudomembranous colitis (PMC) is an acute colitis characterized by the formation of an adherent inflammatory membrane (pseudomembrane) overlying sites of mucosal injury.

PMC is a well recognised cause of diarrhea in patients following a course of broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy. Clostridium difficile infection is the most important infectious cause of PMC.

Ampicillin, clindamycin, and cephalosporins are the most common antibiotics associated with this disease in children. Pseudomembranous colitis is rare in infants younger than 12 months old because they have protective antibodies from the mother and because the toxin does not cause disease in most infants.

Most cases of pseudomembranous colitis happen when a person is in the hospital, because the bacteria can spread from one patient to another.

Risk factors include:

• Advanced age
• Antibiotic use
• Chemotherapy
• Medications that suppress the immune system
• Recent surgery
• Personal history of pseudomembranous colitis

Ischemic Colitis

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Blood-Starved Colon (Ischemic Colitis)

Ischemic Colitis

The term "ischemic colitis" can be broken down into ischemia (referring to lack of oxygen) and colitis (referring to inflammation of the colon). In people suffering from ischemic colitis, the inner lining of the colon becomes irritated, inflamed and ulcerated due to a shortage of oxygen-rich blood in the affected area.

Strange as it may seem, ischemic colitis is similar in nature to coronary artery disease: Both conditions are caused by poor blood flow -- one in the colon and the other in the heart. Thus, some of the major risk factors for ischemic colitis are similar to those for heart disease: high blood pressure, smoking and high cholesterol. All of these factors lead to blockages in various blood vessels, including the coronary vessels in the heart, the vessels of the legs, the vessels in the neck leading to the brain, and the vessels in the abdomen leading to the intestine and colon. Other risk factors include diabetes (which accelerates blood-vessel disease), abnormal heart rhythms (which can dislodge blood clots from the heart, leading to blockage of the abdominal vessels) and certain medications, such as digoxin, which decrease blood flow to the intestine and colon.

Patients with ischemic colitis typically complain of painful abdominal cramps -- the colonic equivalent of heart-related chest pain, or angina. The attacks of pain are often accompanied by passage of blood from the rectum.

SOurce: yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com

Ischemic Colitis

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