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Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory disease which affects the large intestine affecting the rectum first of all and eventually extending to the entire colon. Alongside Crohn’s Disease it is among the main chronic intestinal inflammatory diseases but unlike this latter, ulcerative colitis only involves the superficial layers of the intestinal lumen and not the underlying layers. Typical symptoms include: diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, weight loss, blood in the faeces, fever, tachycardia and tenesmus that is a painful cramp in the anus accompanied by an urgent need to defecate. In the most serious cases there is also dehydration, anaemia, hypoalbuminaemia, hypokalaemia and leukocytosis. Acute episodes precede periods of total remission which are then followed by temporary relapses.

Hereditary factors may play an important role in determining the origin of ulcerative colitis since certain epidemiological studies have shown a higher level of incidence of the illness among family members of those affected, but immunological factors and infection are also probably able to cause the pathology. A condition known as schlerosing cholangitis which results in inflammation of the bile ducts which link the liver to the initial tract of the small intestine could also be an important risk factor. The two illnesses are often associated with each other.