Our experience with pulmonary symptoms in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases.

Overview

Extraintestinal manifestations of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) represent a continuum stretching from separate symptoms to independent nosological entities overlapping from gastroenterology to a variety of other internal medicine subspecialties. In this study, respiratory diseases involved in IBD were analyzed.

Aparticular IBD case of 12-year duration complicated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) illustrates some etiopathogenetic and diagnostic problems as well as the pitfalls of differentiation between the categories of systemic or associated diseases.

The contribution of multifactor risk factors such as smoking is evaluated. These factors make it even more difficult to assess whether pulmonary disease is a complication of IBD or an independent, concomitant disease. The available evidence is further limited by eventual smoking history. The diagnosis and treatment should be done in close coordination with relevant specialists.

Early detection of secondary respiratory disease in IBD can be secured by regular follow-up of patients, lung function tests, and early chest HRCT examination in case of doubt. In risk groups, the likelihood of pulmonary fibrosis should also be kept in mind.

Key words:
idiopathic intestinal inflammations, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease,ulcerative colitis, extraintestinal manifestation, pulmonary symptoms, bronchitis, bronchiectasis.