Women make up 50 percent of all inflammatory bowel disease cases
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) involves chronic inflammation of all or part of your digestive tract. People with IBD usually experience severe diarrhea, pain, fatigue, and weight loss. The experts at the Center for Digestive Disease at MedStar Health can help you manage your symptoms and restore your quality of life.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes the following gastrointestinal conditions:
-
Indeterminate colitis
-
Pouchitis
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Microscopic enterocolitis; lymphocytic and collagenous enterocolitis
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Eosinophilic gastroenteritis
Treatments
- Upper endoscopy, colonoscopy, and wireless video capsule
- Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)
- Chromoendoscopy and confocal endomicroscopy
- Medical treatment
- Radiology
- Biliary and liver services
- Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
- Consultation with liver specialists
- Liver transplant evaluation, when deemed necessary
Inflammatory bowel disease and women's health
IBD largely affects young people, and women make up 50 percent of all IBD cases. Subsequently, IBD can affect different aspects of a woman's health at different stages of her life and of her disease. Our specialists strive to educate our female IBD patients about how the disease can affect:
- Contraceptive method choice
- Fertility
- Cervical health
- Pregnancy and delivery
- Bone health
We provide strategies on how to manage the disease during the pregnancy and postpartum period and how to avoid negative pregnancy outcomes and medication side effects. The gastroenterology team works closely with our high-risk obstetrician and the patient's primary obstetrician to ensure the best pregnancy outcome. We also work closely with our women's health center and division of endocrinology to assess and treat our patients for osteoporosis and osteopenia. (Bone loss may occur because of the disease or the medications used to control the disease).
Health maintenance
In addition to caring for your disease, our goal is to prevent complications to your overall health from the disease and the medications you are using. We ensure you get appropriate vaccinations and screening for different conditions.
Our providers
Expert gastroenterology care
Getting the care you need starts with seeing one of our gastroenterologists.
Our locations
Distance from Change locationEnter your location
MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center
9000 Franklin Square Dr. Baltimore, MD 21237
MedStar Washington Hospital Center
110 Irving St. NW Washington, DC 20010
MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
3800 Reservoir Rd. NW Washington, DC, 20007
MedStar St. Mary's Hospital
25500 Point Lookout Rd. Leonardtown, MD 20650
MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital
5601 Loch Raven Blvd. Baltimore, MD 21239
Awards
Recognized by U.S.News and World Report as high performing in gastroenterology and GI surgery in 2014-15