ULCERATIVE COLITIS IN CHILDREN: Current Views and Therapies

Abstract

Ulcerative colitis is a disease of the lower gastrointestinal system. Clinically it manifests itself in attacks of abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhea, commonly associated with fever, nausea, and weight loss. onset is generally sudden but can also be insidious. course of the illness is characterized by spontaneous remissions and exacerbations, often leading to chronic illness and surgical intervention. In some cases it may even prove fatal. To the pediatrician and the internist, chronic ulcerative colitis has been and remains an enigma, as a survey of the recent medical literature on ulcerative colitis in children confirms. etiology of this disease is unknown and accordingly the treatment at best is aimed at symptomatic relief. There is no known medical treatment which can control the course or severity of the disease. purely medical approach to the treatment of this disease has proven so unsatisfactory that surgery has become a rather frequent procedure. In fact, very recently Lynn (1965), a pediatric surgeon of the Mayo Clinic, earnestly suggested that in every case of ulcerative colitis in a child, total colectomy and permanent iliostomy should be performed not later than six months after the onset of the first symptoms of ulcerative colitis. Lynn states that, The entire medical treatment of ulcerative colitis in children should be viewed as pre-