Medscape: Collagenous Colitis: Oral Low-Dose Methotrexate for Patients With Difficult Symptoms: Long-Term Outcomes Collagenous Colitis: Oral Low-Dose Methotrexate for Patients With Difficult Symptoms: Long-Term Outcomes Collagenous colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes chronic, watery diarrhea. It gets its name from the way it affects the collagen in your colon lining. Collagen is a protein that your body uses to build connective tissues.

Context Explanation

This is what the middle layer of your colon lining is made of. There are two subtypes of microscopic colitis: Collagenous colitis, in which a thick layer of protein called collagen grows in colon tissue. Lymphocytic colitis, in which white blood cells called lymphocytes increase in colon tissue. Collagenous colitis (CC) is an increasingly recognized cause of chronic inflammatory bowel disease characterized by watery non-bloody diarrhea.

Insight Material

As a lesser studied inflammatory bowel disease, many aspects of the CC’s natural history are poorly understood. Collagenous colitis (CC) is a condition that affects your large intestine. It leads to episodes of watery diarrhea and belly pain. Collagenous and lymphocytic colitis are forms of microscopic colitis that affect the large intestine. The term microscopic colitis is used to describe chronic, watery diarrhea in patients with only microscopic evidence of inflammation.

Final Conclusion

Collagenous colitis is form of microscopic colitis characterized by chronic watery diarrhea, colonic intraepithelial lymphocytosis, surface mucosal damage, lamina propria inflammation and a subepithelial collagen band. Collagenous colitis, and microscopic colitis as a whole, is sometimes considered to be an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) along with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. If all of these tests are negative, you may need a colonoscopy, as that is the only way to diagnose collagenous colitis. This test looks at the lining of your colon and rectum. In collagenous colitis, a thick layer of collagen β€” a type of connective protein β€” forms within the colon tissue. Its symptoms can disappear and reappear.