Inflammatory diseases of the colon.

Preview Symptoms of inflammatory diseases of the colon can be numerous and varied, ranging from the slight rectal bleeding of proctitis to the abdominal tenderness, bloody diarrhea, fever, dehydration, and orthostasis of fulminant colitis. The authors discuss how symptoms and other findings guide the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, infectious colitis, colonic ischemia and vasculitis, and other types of colitis. They also summarize treatment methods.