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Fibrosis in Ulcerative Colitis

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Fibrostenotic Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

Intestinal fibrosis is a classic complication in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases where chronic inflammation and abnormal tissue repair together lead to a compromised bowel function. Although fibrosis and stricture formation are acknowledged features of Crohn’s disease courses, these complications remain poorly studied in ulcerative colitis (UC). The relevance of this topic has long been ignored, despite the well-known prevalence of stenosis in UC, its clinical impact in motility and the importance of assessing stricture malignancy.

Fibrosis in UC is now perceived as a dynamic and reversible process. However, still no proper antifibrotic therapy exist, mainly due to the very limited pathophysiological insights.

This chapter aims to review the current knowledge about fibrosis development in UC, outlining disease basic concepts, epidemiology, histopathologic features and clinical consequences.

Overview of fibrosis in Ulcerative colitis

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Fernando Magro & Tatiana António

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  1. Fernando Magro
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  2. Tatiana António
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Correspondence to Fernando Magro .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Digestive Diseases and Surgery Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Florian Rieder

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Magro, F., António, T. (2018). Fibrosis in Ulcerative Colitis. In: Rieder, F. (eds) Fibrostenotic Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90578-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90578-5_10

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