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Query: UMLS:C0002871 (anemia)
 52,094 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Toxic megacolon is a rare but typical complication of ulcerative colitis. But also every inflammatory bowel disease may be cause of toxic megacolon, including especially Crohn's colitis and pseudomembranous colitis (PMC). There is to mention, that PMC becomes more frequent and more important in the last years. Toxic megacolon is defined by radiological, clinical and labaratory criteria: colonic distension (<6 cm), fever, tachycardia, hypotension, electrolyte disturbances, leucocytosis and anemia. Intensive medical therapy is primarly the therapy of choice, but clinical parameters should be closely monitored. In patients with ulcerative colitis high dosis of corticosteroids are given intravenously. If there is no clinical improvement after 48 to 72 hours, colectomy is required. The use of alternative therapies like cyclosporine or infliximab has to be discussed as possible before toxic megacolon occurs.
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PMID:[Toxic megacolon--the position of the internist]. 1711 82

Toxic megacolon is a rare and life-threatening complication of severe colitis, defined as a dilatation of the colon > 6 cm in the absence of distal obstruction in combination with signs of systemic toxicity (major criteria: fever, tachycardia, leukocytosis, anaemia). Various triggers are known and the most common causes are underlying ulcerative colitis and Clostridium difficile. Diagnosis can easily be made by clinical examination, routine laboratory parameters and a plain X-ray of the abdomen. Much more difficult is to decide between non-surgical treatment including intensive care treatment or surgery (mostly subtotal colectomy with terminal ileostomy). Non-surgical therapy includes balancing of electrolytes and fluid volumes, broad-spectrum antibiotics including metronidazole, positioning of patients and probably careful intermittent decompression. In case of ulcerative colitis immunosuppression should be started with corticosteroids and potentially with calcineurin inhibitors. In pseudomembranous colitis vancomycin should be given orally and metronidazole should be given intravenously. As far as possible the patient should be treated in a centre with experience in the field.
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PMID:[Current management of toxic megacolon]. 2238 87