Patient Question: If you are in remission, will there still be signs of disease seen during colonoscopy?

A. Patients with Crohn’s disease may feel completely well but have quite active disease at the time of colonoscopy. For this reason, your medical provider may recommend that you undergo periodic blood work, stool studies or even a follow up colonoscopy to make sure that the inflammation is under control. In patients with ulcerative colitis, there is usually a much stronger correlation between how patients feel and the findings on colonoscopy. Despite that, I estimate that up to 15% of patients with ulcerative colitis will have significant inflammation in the colon even when they feel well.