Treatment

Treatment for ulcerative colitis can depend on how severe your child’s symptoms are, and how well their disease responds to treatment. Ulcerative colitis in adults is sometimes treated with a special kind of enema that has medication.

However, children often can’t tolerate receiving the enema. If they can take medications, some treatments include:

• aminosalicylates, to reduce inflammation in the colon
• corticosteroids, to keep the immune system from attacking the colon
• immunomodulators or TNF-alpha blocking agents, to reduce inflammation reactions in the body

If your child’s symptoms don’t respond to these treatments and get worse, your doctor may recommend surgery to remove the affected part of their colon. Surgeries may include:

• proctocolectomy with ileostomy which removes the colon, rectum, and anus and creates an opening in the belly to pass food waste
• ileoanal anastomosis which connects the small intestine to the anus to allow for waste to be removed normally after the large intestine is removed

Your child can live without all or part of their colon, although removal can affect their digestion. Removing part of the colon does not cure the disease. Ulcerative colitis may reappear in the part of the colon left after surgery.

In some circumstances, your doctor may recommend removing all of your child’s colon. A portion of their small intestine will be rerouted through the abdominal wall so stool can exit.