Abstract
This report reviews the illness of 43 patients who had developed symptoms of chronic ulcerative colitis during their childhood or teenage years (1953–1966). The clinical picture is similar to that observed in adults, although these patients appear more ill and disabled by their disease. When first seen, 71% of the patients had total colon involvement, and 65% had complications of the disease. At follow-up, 6 died, 2 had colectomies, 27 are under medical treatment, but only 15 remain relatively symptom-free. Nine are alive after surgery. One patient's status is unknown. In general, it is difficult to control ulcerative colitis that begins when the patient is young; it is associated with a high rate of mortality and morbidity. Earlier consideration should be given to surgical treatment when patients respond poorly or incompletely to medical treatment.
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Supported in part by Public Health Service Grant 5T01 AM 5208 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases.
The authors wish to express their gratitude to the many physicians, families and patients who cooperated with them in gathering this material.
Presented in part at the Fiftieth Annual Session of the American College of Physicians in Chicago, Ill, April 22, 1969.
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Patterson, M., Castiglioni, L. & Sampson, L. Chronic ulcerative colitis beginning in children and teenagers. Digest Dis Sci 16, 289–297 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02235203
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02235203