Q. What is Inflammatory Bowel Disease?

Inflammatory bowel disease is a general term used to refer to chronic inflammatory condition of the intestine. It is applied to three conditions having similar symptoms but different underlying clinical problem. It includes:

1. Ulcerative colitis

2. Crohn's disease

3. Short bowel syndrome

When the inflammation is in rectum with extension into the colon without affecting the right colon or small intestine, the disease is called ulcerative colitis. When an inflammatory process involves one or more lengthy segments of the.smal1 or large intestine with inflammation from the mucosa to serosa, the disease is called Crohn's disease.