New news came from the high-profile "Princess Kate's surgery incident": there are reports from the United Kingdom that Princess Kate may be suffering from Crohn's disease. On January 17, local time, the British royal family issued a statement saying that Princess Kate, the wife of Crown Prince William, was admitted to the hospital for abdominal surgery, which was successful and required hospitalization for more than ten days, and then returned home to continue to recuperate for two or three months, and had to postpone her participation in official activities.
It does not affect life and will accompany the patient for a long time.
In 1932, a physician surnamed Crohn published a study that brought to the attention of people at the time a limited form of ileitis that was not yet understood, and the disease was named Crohn's disease.
Chen Ning, chief physician of the Department of Gastroenterology of Peking University People's Hospital, introduced that Crohn's disease is mainly manifested as non-specific and unexplained chronic intestinal inflammation confined to the ileum and cecum, which is usually manifested by the involvement of the entire digestive tract, from the oral cavity, esophagus to the stomach, small intestine, large intestine and even around the **, and many patients also have extraintestinal manifestations. Crohn's disease is a long-term, chronic disease that occurs more often in younger people.
Although Crohn's disease is not life-threatening, it can stay with people for a long time. Once the digestive tract is inflamed, the patient's digestion and absorption function will be affected, food can not be converted into energy in time, the quality of life is difficult to guarantee, and normal physical exercise cannot be carried out, and even affect work and life.
From the perspective of pathogenesis, Crohn's disease is affected by genes to a certain extent, and Western Caucasians are more susceptible to the disease, and with the economic development of East Asia getting better and better, the number of patients suffering from Crohn's disease has increased exponentially. Scientists have found that the environment and economic status have an impact on the incidence of the disease, and there are relatively more patients with Crohn's disease in economically developed areas. Further studies have found that the incidence is higher in people who engage in non-manual labor than those who engage in manual labor. In addition, people with Western-style diets such as fast food and burgers are also at higher risk of developing Crohn's disease. Crohn's disease is also known as the "disease of wealth".
It is related to immune disorders and intestinal imbalances.
The specific cause of Crohn's disease is not clear, but it is known to be related to genetics, environment, immune disorders of the body, and intestinal imbalance.
One can only prevent it from the external environment. Chen Ning pointed out that people should follow a healthy diet with less oil and less fat in their diet, and do not eat overly processed foods, such as ham sausage and bacon; Moderately control emotions to avoid anxiety caused by daily work and study; Focus on exercise and live a regular and healthy life.
Even with environmental prevention, people cannot completely avoid the occurrence of Crohn's disease. "If people have a family history of Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis and other autoimmune diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis, etc., it is recommended to go to a gastrointestinal specialist for diagnosis and treatment as soon as they develop any gastrointestinal symptoms to help people recognize Crohn's disease as soon as possible. Chen Ning said.
Symptoms of Crohn's disease are nonspecific, and common bacterial enteritis can also have manifestations similar to abdominal pain, diarrhea, and blood in the stool, and it is difficult for patients to detect the first episode of the disease if they present to a non-specialist hospital. The diagnosis of Crohn's disease is a relatively long process, and it takes 3-6 months from the first onset of the disease to the final diagnosis in front of experienced doctors in mainstream inflammatory bowel disease diagnosis and treatment centers. Internationally, the diagnosis of Crohn's disease takes a wider time, from the onset of symptoms to diagnosis, as long as it is not more than two years, it is considered to be an early diagnosis.
There are several types of tests for Crohn's disease:
Laboratory tests: such as blood routine, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, serum albumin, etc., fecal calprotectin test can be done if conditions permit, which can be used as a preliminary examination to assess the degree of inflammation and nutritional status of patients.
Endoscopy: includes colonoscopy, enteroscopy, and gastroscopy, of which colonoscopy and mucosal tissue biopsy should be listed as the routine first choice for the diagnosis of Crohn's disease.
Imaging tests: These include CT imaging (CTE) of the small intestine and MR intestinal imaging (MRE), which are the standard imaging tests to evaluate inflammatory lesions of the small intestine, as well as barium enema, barium enterography, and transabdominal ultrasound.
Histopathological examination: this test can identify characteristic changes in Crohn's disease, and surgical resection specimens are more diagnostic.
Crohn's disease can be divided into active and remitting phases in the process. In the active period, the doctor will ask the patient to fast, so that the gastrointestinal tract can get enough rest, at this time, it is necessary to rely on intravenous infusion to supplement nutrition, and after the patient is gradually relieved, the diet should also pay attention to eating easily digestible, less residue, less fiber food. In the stage of disease control, patients are encouraged to eat a diversified and balanced diet, encourage patients to consume high-protein diets as much as possible, reduce spicy and irritating foods, reduce strong tea, coffee and other beverages, reduce high-fat and high-additive foods, and encourage patients to eat foods containing unsaturated fatty acids and fish oil.
Beijing News reporter Zhang Zhaohui.
Proofread by Zhao Lin.