19-year-old boy suffers from "green cancer", incurable! Incidence rate rises, beware——

Recently, British media reported that Princess Kate was suspected of suffering from Crohn's disease. This news once again brought Crohn's disease, the "number one strange disease" of the digestive tract, into the public eye.

Crohn's disease is known as the "immortal cancer" and "green cancer". If not treated actively, the condition cannot be effectively controlled and may cause serious conditions such as massive gastrointestinal bleeding, acute intestinal perforation, intestinal obstruction, and even be life-threatening.

19-year-old boy suffers from "green cancer"

Call it "unexpected"

According to Ningbo Broadcasting and Television Media, Jiang Qi, chief physician of the Department of Gastroenterology at the First Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, said that Crohn's disease is a chronic nonspecific gastrointestinal inflammatory disease and a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Inflammatory bowel disease was once considered a "Western disease", but relevant data show that the incidence of the disease in China is currently showing a significant upward trend.

In recent years, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis have been reported in many young people in their teens and twenties.

Last year, 19-year-old Xiao Li (pseudonym) went to a local hospital for diarrhea. After abdominal CT scans and other examinations, he was diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis. During the detailed interview, Jiang Qi learned that he had been suffering from chronic abdominal pain and diarrhea for quite a long time and his condition was suspicious, so he recommended that he undergo further examinations.

The results of the examination came out quickly: small intestinal CT showed multiple inflammations in the small intestine , perianal MRI (nuclear magnetic resonance imaging) showed anal fistula , blood biochemistry showed mild hypoproteinemia , and blood routine showed mild anemia . Combining the results of various examinations, Xiao Li was finally diagnosed with Crohn's disease. When he heard this unfamiliar term, he exclaimed "I can't believe it" because he thought he just had ordinary enteritis.

For the treatment of Crohn's disease, drug therapy is currently used to control disease activity and maintain disease remission . However, if the intestinal tract is seriously diseased, timely surgical removal of the severely diseased intestine is still required, because the function of this part of the intestine has been lost, and if it is not treated, it may lead to deterioration of systemic function.

Jiang Qi said that due to early detection, Xiao Li's Crohn's disease was intervened in the early stage of the disease, and after drug treatment, the symptoms have improved significantly . During a recent outpatient follow-up, he happily said that he was in good condition.

What is Crohn's disease?

Be alert if your body shows these signs

It is understood that Crohn's disease is more common in young and middle-aged people aged 15 to 45 years old , with similar incidence rates in men and women. The sites of disease are mostly located in the terminal ileum and ascending colon, but can also occur in any part of the entire digestive tract .

The disease is incurable, has many complications, a high recurrence rate, and a high risk of cancer . It seriously affects the patient's quality of life and also brings a heavy medical and economic burden to the family. Early detection and early treatment are critical to controlling Crohn's disease.

However, Crohn's disease is a disease that is easily missed or misdiagnosed. Because the early symptoms are not obvious , it is easy to be ignored or treated as ordinary enteritis or appendicitis, resulting in delayed treatment and irreversible consequences. If the disease starts in adolescence and is not treated in time, it is very likely to affect growth and development.

So, how can we achieve early detection and early treatment?

When the following signs appear in your body, you should be alert and seek medical attention promptly.

Digestive system symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, and abdominal mass;

Systemic symptoms such as fever, loss of appetite, weight loss, and malnutrition;

Extraintestinal symptoms such as arthritis, conjunctivitis, skin and oral mucosal lesions, etc.

In addition, gastrointestinal bleeding, intestinal stenosis and obstruction, intestinal perforation, abdominal abscess, anal fissure, anal fistula and perianal abscess, and cancer are common complications of Crohn's disease.

"If ulcers are found during colonoscopy and the patient also suffers from rheumatic and immune diseases, one must be more vigilant about Crohn's disease, because Crohn's disease may be related to abnormalities of the immune system, and it is not uncommon for the disease to be combined with rheumatic and immune diseases," Jiang Qi reminded.

Doctors remind: maintain a regular daily life, avoid eating raw, cold and unclean food, do appropriate physical exercise, pay attention to mental care, maintain a calm mind and a happy mood... These all play a certain role in preventing Crohn's disease.

Source: Beijing Daily, Ningbo Radio and Television Media·Ningju