Can uc become crohn ?

UC cannot "become" Crohn's, but it is possible to be misdiagnosed with UC when you actually have Crohn's. This is particularly the case if a person has Crohn's only affecting the colon ("Crohn's Colitis").

UC and Crohn's collectively called IBD. UC affects only large colon and Crohn's can be anywhere from mouth to anus. UC's inflammation is continuous and starts from rectum and it is not deep while Crohn's inflammation is patchy and it goes deeper. Normally UC patients don't develop fistula or narrowing like Crohn's patient. So they are different conditions and UC does not turn in crohn's but sometimes, patient with Crohn's has inflammation just in colon and hard to distinguish from UC so possibility of misdiagnosis. It might be crohn's in the first place but was diagnosed wrong.

I am one of those people. I was diagnosed with crohn's as I only had a little bit of inflammation in sigmoid colon and rectum was clear initially but next when I flared and had colonoscopy with different GI, he said he thinks it's UC as inflammation was continuous from rectum to traverse colon. So my diagnosis at present is "Indeterminate colitis"(inflammation of colon). Basically they can not tell one way or other way.He is just watching and he wants to see of any complication for crohn's.

Anyway treatment is same UC or Crohns but when you have surgery, with crohn's you get permanent stoma and with UC you can have j-pouch.

It's a pretty gray area, they were certain as much as possible that I had Pancolitis UC with all the tell-tale signs of UC. Once I had my colon removed and they built me a j-pouch I now have chronic pouchitis. If I just went with a permanent ostomy I never probably would had active disease in my intestine and it would have always been considered UC. Now I have ulcers in my j-pouch which my GI calls Crohns because he thinks that is what is a strong possibility, but also because it makes insurance approvals easier for Stelara since it is not approved for UC and no medicine was ever FDA approved for pouchitis.

My ulcers are only contained in my j-pouch, they have not moved up from my pouch and if they did then it would certainly be CD. But my j-pouch is made from parts of my small intestine so technically it is inflammation of my small intestine which would be CD.

The inflammation/Ulcers in colonoscopies looked a lot different than my pouchoscope.

I feel like the answers you are looking for are not available. My opinion is, no, it can't "become" crohn's, but it could have been a misdiagnosis (uncommon) or you could develop crohn's at a later point in your life. Both are uncommon but not impossible.

That was my diagnosis in 2012, Quincy. Indeterminate colitis. I'm currently getting scheduled for a colonoscopy to see if I do indeed have Crohn's. Wish me luck?!