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Positive small bowel series but negative colonoscopy for Crohn's??

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 4/30/2008 5:10 AM (GMT 0)

I have Crohn's disease and my daughter recently had a small bowel series that showed "an abnormal distal ileum with irregular mucosa and a patulous appearing ileocecal valve.  These findings are suggestive of Crohn's disease."  Her GI doctor (also my doctor for the last 27 years) did a very thorough colonoscopy today and was able to get into the suspicious area of the ileum but he saw absolutely nothing!  In fact, he was able to get further than the suspected area, but again, nothing.  The colon was clear too.  He took several biopsies so we will have to wait for the results but now he says he is fairly confident that she does not have Crohn's.  I am so confused.  Her symptoms have been bouts of abdominal pain and diarrhea.  The GI doc said that the small intestine has lymphoid tissue (a normal finding) which the radiologist could have mistaken for Crohn's.  He said he would like to see the small bowel series for himself.  The time frame between the small bowel series and the colonoscopy was 2 weeks.

Has anyone else had a positive and a negative finding like this?  Any words of wisdom or something I should be asking the GI doc?

Thank you!

Posted 4/30/2008 11:36 AM (GMT 0)
How long has she had symptoms?
Posted 4/30/2008 12:44 PM (GMT 0)
Hi I guess you"ll have to wait for the results of the bio's hope your daughter feels better soon. There is some good things showing, that her colon was good. Glad her Dr. is staying on top of things. No words of wisdom, how old is your daughter? Hope you get some answers soon. lol gail
Posted 4/30/2008 3:49 PM (GMT 0)
My daughter is 22 years old and has had intermittent symptoms most of her life.  In fact, at age 4 she had an upper GI and colonoscopy because of diarrhea, pain, and some minimal bleeding.  Before they scheduled the colonoscopy, they ruled out parasites and infectious causes.  She also had a lot of blood work and stool samples done.  They could never find anything and after awhile, her symptoms resolved.  Then at around age 12 she started having symptoms of bloating, stomach pain and belching.  At that time she had a CT scan, an upper endoscopy and an upper GI.  They found a hiatal hernia (not severe) and large ovarian cysts.  I guess I always thought that since she didn't have Crohn's, maybe she had IBS, which I guess is still a possibility.  She has also been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and has many allergies.  She has also suffered from anemia but it is intermittent.

I guess we'll just have to wait for the biopsies.  I have heard about some people having a difficult time being diagnosed with Crohn's.  I'm just hoping that something isn't missed.

Posted 4/30/2008 5:49 PM (GMT 0)
Having no activity in the colon just means that CD is not affecting the colon, but if anything is found, even the slightest sign of CD anywhere eles then it's likely CD. It could be a very tiny area that is affected and he may not have seen it via the tests, afterall it's pretty hard to see every nook and cranny in there and the smallest of inflammation could easily be missed by the human eye but still cause symptoms.

I hope she is CD free.

:)
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