Stricture is a not uncommon result of longstanding Crohns disease and can be of two kinds -- either from inflammation, which can be addressed with medication tha induces remission, or from scarring and thickening of the bowel wall, which eventually usually requires either surgery to remove that section or, in some cases, a scope that expands and stretches the area to re-
open it. I structure is like the narrowing you get in a drainpipe that allows hair to clog and stops up the sink. Hence an obstruction, which usually lands one in the ER and sometimes in surgery. A stricture in the colon can be seen on scope; inn the small bowel, which is much narrower and often more prone to stricturing for that reason, it is seen with a small bowel folow through barium Xray series. People can live with a moderate to mild strictrue, which may only slow the bowel passage down (and can result in intermittent pain, gas and constipation) but a more serious one almost always leads to obstruction eventually and surgery. Often GIs will recommend preventive surgery to snip out the strictured area if it seems to be approaching obstruction.