Ischemic colitis

This is a photograph taken in the colon of an area of ischemic colitis. This condition occurs when there is a lack of blood flow to the superficial cells of the colon and thus many of them die. There is often bleeding, generally there is no pain, and what we see here is an ulcer which is healing. This condition tends to get better on its own, and in this patient, there clearly is healing.

Ischemic colitis-severe

This is a photograph of another patient with ischemic colitis but as compared to the other photo, we can see severe redness, swelling, and almost a bluish appearance to the wall of the bowel and as opposed to being along only one wall, this is almost the entire bowel. This is a very severe case of ischemic colitis. It may and may not heal and often when it does heal, it heals with scarring. This is obviously a serious condition.