Thromboembolic events in inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by recurrent episodes of exacerbation of gastrointestinal inflammation characterized, according to the prevailing theory, by an inadequate immune response to the intestinal microflora. IBD include two types of disease, which differ in their location and depth of inflammation in the intestinal wall. Ulcerative colitis (UC) involves diffuse inflammation of the mucosa of the colon. UC most commonly affects the rectum (proctitis), but can extend to the descending colon (left ulcerative colitis) or affect the colon up to the splenic flexure and even the cecum, mostly subsequent tissue (extensive colitis). Crohn's disease (CD) can cause segmental inflammation in any part of the gastrointestinal tract but most often affects the terminal ileum and colon. Both of the above mentioned types of IBD are classified based on their clinical, laboratory, imaging and endoscopic severity (mild, moderate or severe) and their location in the digestive tract. In addition to the gastrointestinal tract, both CD and UC disease present with multiple and varied extraintestinal manifestations, such as arthritis, metabolic bone disease, ocular manifestations, skin diseases, and liver-pancreas disease, gallbladder disease, neurological disorders, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and thromboembolic events (TEE). In this review we will refer to the thromboembolic episodes related to IBD which are an important factor in morbidity and mortality of patients.