Inflammatory bowel disease differential diagnosis

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Main page
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Classification Crohn's disease Ulcerative colitis
Differential Diagnosis

Overview

Inflammatory bowel disease must be differentiated from other diseases that cause lower abdominal pain and fever like appendicitis, diverticulitis, colon cancer, cystitis, and endometritis.

Differentiating inflammatory bowel disease from other diseases

Inflammatory bowel disease must be differentiated from other diseases that cause lower abdominal pain and fever like appendicitis, diverticulitis, colon cancer, cystitis, and endometritis.

Diseases		Symptoms		Signs			Diagnosis		Comments
		Abdominal pain	Bowel habits	Rebound tenderness	Guarding	Genitourinary signs	Lab findings	Imaging
GI diseases	Diverticulitis	LLQ	Constipation Or Diarrhea	-	+	+	Leukocytosis	CT scan shows evidence of inflammation
	Appendicitis	LLQ / RRQ	Constipation	+	+	-	Leukocytosis	Ultrasound shows evidence of inflammation	Nausea & vomiting,decreased appetite
	Inflammatory bowel disease	LLQ	Bloody diarrhea	-	-	-	Leukocytosis		Colonoscopy and tissue sampling are recommended for differentiating between Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
	Colon carcinoma	LLQ	Constipation	-	-	-	Serum carcino-embryogenic antigen  Low Vit b12 Hypercalcemia	CT scan, x-ray and MRI used to show metastasis
	Strangulated hernia	LLQ	-	-	-	-	No specific tests	CT scan used to detect the hernia and to show if it is single or multiple
Gentiourinary diseases	Cystitis	LLQ	-	+	-	Suprapubic tenderness	Pyuria Presence of nitrites and leukocyte estrase	X ray is done to probe the suspicion of emphysematous cystitis. CT scan shows gas in the bladder in cases of emphysematous cystitis.
	Prostatitis	LLQ Groin pain	-	-	-	Tender and enlarged	Serum PSA elevated Leukocytosis Elevated CRP	CT scan shows edema and enlarged prostate Abscess may be observed
	Pelvic inflammatory disease	Bilateral	-	+	-	Purulent vaginal discharge	Nucleic acid amplification tests is the best laboratory test for PID.	Transvaginal utrasonography
Gynecological diseases	Endometritis	LLQ	-	+	-	+	No specific tests	Ultrasound is helpful to rule out other differential diagnosis such as pelvic abscess, thrombosis and masses	Vaginal discharge Vaginal bleeding
	Salpingitis	LLQ/ RLQ		+/-	+/-		Leukocytosis	Pelvic ultrasound	Vaginal discharge