What are the symptoms of Crohn's enteritis

Crohn's enteritis can present with different symptoms, such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, or the common abdominal mass, which is mainly due to intestinal adhesions, or intestinal adhesions, thickening of the intestinal wall and mesentery leading to abscess formation. At the same time, the whole body may also show symptoms such as fever and nutritional disorders.

1. Digestive system manifestations

(1) Abdominal pain is located in the right lower abdomen or around the navel and is spasmodic and intermittent. It is accompanied by bowel sounds and worsens after meals and is relieved after defecation. If the abdominal pain persists and the tenderness is obvious, it indicates that the inflammation has spread to the peritoneum or abdominal cavity, forming an abscess. Severe abdominal pain and tense abdominal muscles may be caused by acute perforation of the diseased intestinal segment.

(2) Diarrhea is caused by inflammatory exudation, increased motility and secondary malabsorption in the affected intestinal segment. The symptoms are intermittent at first, and then become continuous mushy stools without pus, blood or mucus in the later stage. If the lesion involves the lower colon or rectum, there may be mucus, blood in the stool, and a feeling of tenesmus.

(3) Abdominal masses are most common in the right lower abdomen and around the umbilicus, and are caused by intestinal adhesions, thickening of the intestinal wall and mesentery, enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes, internal fistulas, or local abscess formation.

(4) Fistula formation is one of the clinical characteristics of Crohn's disease. Transmural inflammatory lesions penetrate the entire layer of the intestinal wall to the extraintestinal tissue or organ, forming a fistula. Fistulas can lead to other intestinal segments, mesentery, bladder, ureters, vaginal retroperitoneum, etc. External fistulas lead to the abdominal wall or perianal skin.

(5) Anorectal lesions: A small number of patients have lesions such as fistulas, abscess formation, and anal fissures around the anus and rectum.

2. Systemic manifestations

(1) Fever Fever is caused by intestinal inflammatory activity or secondary infection. It is often intermittent low-grade fever or moderate fever. A few cases present with remittent fever and may be accompanied by toxemia.

(2) Nutritional disorders include weight loss, anemia, hypoproteinemia, vitamin deficiency, calcium deficiency, osteoporosis, etc. caused by loss of appetite, chronic diarrhea and chronic wasting diseases.

(3) During the acute attack period, there are disorders of water, electrolyte, acid and base balance.

3. Extraintestinal manifestations

Some patients have iridocyclitis, uveitis, clubbing, arthritis, erythema nodosum gangrenosum pyoderma, oral mucosal ulcers, chronic hepatitis, pericholedochal inflammation, sclerosing cholangitis, etc., and occasionally amyloid degeneration or thromboembolic diseases.