Complications

• Acute appendicitis

• Infectious gastroenteritis/colitis

• Noninfectious colitis (ischemic, after radiation therapy, after ingestion of drugs, etc.)

• Diverticulitis

• Irritable bowel syndrome

• Gastrointestinal tuberculosis

• Malignant intestinal transformations

• Colorectal cancer (especially in the case of pancolitis)

• Short bowel syndrome and associated issues after surgery

• Stenosis/strictures → bowel obstruction/(sub)ileus

• Intestinal perforation → peritonitis

• Primary sclerosing cholangitis

• Impaired bile acid reabsorption

  • Bile acid diarrhea

  • Bile acid malabsorption → steatorrhea and deficiencies in fat-soluble vitamins

• Abscess formation/phlegmons

• Signs of malabsorption syndrome

  • Weight loss

  • Failure to thrive and growth failure in children

  • Anemia

    • Iron deficiency anemia

    • Anemia of chronic disease

    • Megaloblastic anemia (vitamin B12 deficiency due to impaired absorption in the chronically inflamed ileum)

  • Osteoporosis .

• Amyloidosis

CD is a chronic disease that is currently not curable. Patients with any of the following features are at high risk of progression to severe disease and may require more aggressive treatment to prevent complications of CD.

• Young age at diagnosis (< 30 years of age)

• Early need for steroid use

• Small bowel involvement

• Perianal or rectal disease

• Previous stenosis, fistula, and/or abscess

• Visceral adiposity