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Have Symptoms Of Crohn's Diease. What Kind Of Test Should Be Done To Confirm?
Question: I have many symptoms of Crohn's diease. What kind of test do I need to find out if I do
have Crohn's diease?
have Crohn's diease?
Hi and thank you so much for this query.
I am sorry to hear that you have so many symptoms suggestive of Chron's disease. The following are very helpful in determining whether you have this disease or not.
1. Interrogation and physical examination provides tons of vital information and what types of test we need to do if the suspicion of this disease is high. This is because symptoms of Chron's disease are also present in many other conditions that cause chronic diarrhoea.
2. If the suspicion is high, then we shall do tests that look at the bowel. These are imagery tests and include colonoscopy(looking into the colon with a light source through a magnifier), barium enema( Injecting a substance that can light up in the intestines through the anus and images are taken) , capsule endoscopy(swallow a small camera in the form of a capsule that takes images and send to a computer monitor), small bowel imaging( you swallow a product that can light up in the intestines and serial images are taken), MRI, CT scan, etc to confirm the diagnosis. Also, fecal occult blood is often done. A blood exam may be asked just to check if you have anemia as it is common in patients with Chron's disease.
A client does not need all of these tests. Which you start with depends on the clues obtained from interrogation and physical exam. Also, it depends on its availability in your area.
My suggestion would be that you get consulted and your doctor will plan and follow up with these investigations depending on his suspicion of the disease. The best specialist to consult would be a gastroenterologist.
I hope this addresses your query fully and provides ample information for you to act on. If you have some more questions related to this query, please ask me and I will happily address them. I wish you the best of health.
Dr. Ditah, MD.
I am sorry to hear that you have so many symptoms suggestive of Chron's disease. The following are very helpful in determining whether you have this disease or not.
1. Interrogation and physical examination provides tons of vital information and what types of test we need to do if the suspicion of this disease is high. This is because symptoms of Chron's disease are also present in many other conditions that cause chronic diarrhoea.
2. If the suspicion is high, then we shall do tests that look at the bowel. These are imagery tests and include colonoscopy(looking into the colon with a light source through a magnifier), barium enema( Injecting a substance that can light up in the intestines through the anus and images are taken) , capsule endoscopy(swallow a small camera in the form of a capsule that takes images and send to a computer monitor), small bowel imaging( you swallow a product that can light up in the intestines and serial images are taken), MRI, CT scan, etc to confirm the diagnosis. Also, fecal occult blood is often done. A blood exam may be asked just to check if you have anemia as it is common in patients with Chron's disease.
A client does not need all of these tests. Which you start with depends on the clues obtained from interrogation and physical exam. Also, it depends on its availability in your area.
My suggestion would be that you get consulted and your doctor will plan and follow up with these investigations depending on his suspicion of the disease. The best specialist to consult would be a gastroenterologist.
I hope this addresses your query fully and provides ample information for you to act on. If you have some more questions related to this query, please ask me and I will happily address them. I wish you the best of health.
Dr. Ditah, MD.
Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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