IBD Facts

This glossary lists many of the words you may come across when you are researching your condition.

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Pathogen: Harmful organism causing disease.

 
Pathology: The study of the cause and progress of disease.

 
Perforation: An abnormal opening (hole) in the wall of the bowel that causes the contents of the bowel to spill into the abdominal cavity.

 
Peri-anal: Around the anus.

 
Peritoneum: The membrane lining the abdominal cavity.

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Peritonitis: Inflammation of the peritoneum, often due to a perforation.

 
Polyp: A protruding growth from the lining of the intestine (e.g. colonic polyp - a polyp in the colon).

 
Pouch: A surgical enlargement of an ileo-anal anastomomis to form the equivalent of a rectum.

 
Pouchitis: Inflammation of a pouch.

 
Proctitis: Inflammation of the rectum.

 
Prophylaxis: Treatment to prevent a disease occurring before it has started.

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Proximal: Further up the bowel towards the mouth.

 
Pyoderma gangrenosum: A type of chronic skin ulceration that sometimes occurs on the limbs of people with inflammatory bowel disease.

 
Radiologist: A specialist who interprets X-ray pictures to make a diagnosis.

 
Rectosigmoid area: The junction between the sigmoid colon and the rectum.

 
Rectum: The lowest 20 cm of the large intestine, just above the anus.

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Relapse: Return of disease activity.

 
Remission: Absence of symptoms of the disease and return to good health.

 
Sacroileitis: Inflammation of the joint between the backbone and the pelvic bone.

 
Short bowel syndrome: A malabsorption syndrome resulting from extensive surgical resection of the small intestine.

 
Sigmoid colon: The portion of the colon shaped like a letter 'S' or 'C', extending from the descending colon to the rectum.

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Sigmoidoscopy: Inspection of the sigmoid colon with an illuminated tube called a sigmoidoscope.

 
Skip lesions: Areas of inflammation with areas of normal intestinal lining in between (seen in Crohn's disease).

 
Splenic flexure: That portion of the colon where the transverse and the descending colon meet, below the spleen.

 
Steatorrhoea: Presence of excess fat in the faeces.

 
Stoma: An opening into the body from the outside, created by a surgeon.

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Stricture: The narrowing of a portion of the bowel.

 
Suppository: A smooth-shaped solid medication inserted into the rectum.

 
Tenesmus: Persistent urge to empty the bowel caused by an inflamed rectum.

 
Terminal ileum: The last part of the ileum, where the small intestine joins the large intestine.

 
Total parenteral nutrition: When the whole diet (i.e. all necessary nutrients) are delivered by injection into a vein.

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Toxic megacolon: A dilatation (swelling) of the colon that may lead to perforation, usually resulting in a very severe attack of ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease. Urgent surgery is almost always needed.

 
TPN: See total parenteral nutrition.

 
Transverse colon: The portion of bowel between the hepatic and splenic flexures.

 
Tumour: An abnormal growth that may be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous).

 
Ultrasound: Use of high-pitched sound waves to produce pictures of internal organs on a screen for diagnostic purposes.

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Uveitis: Inflammation of that part of the eye that regulates the amount of light entering the eye.

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