- Proctitis
- Inflammation of the rectum. This may be due to a considerable number of causes, among them infectious agents and ulcerative colitis. Infectious proctitis is often due to agents such as Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrheae (the bacteria that causes gonorrhea) and herpes simplex virus that can be acquired during receptive anoreceptive intercourse. Proctitis is a hallmark of ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease of unknown origin. In fact, the rectum is always involved in ulcerative colitis. Ulcerative colitis limited to the rectum is called ulcerative proctitis. (The inflammation may also extend into the upper parts of the colon). Intermittent rectal bleeding, crampy abdominal pain and diarrhea that wax and wane are characteristic consequences of ulcerative colitis. The word proctitis comes from the Greek proktos meaning the hindparts or anus + the ending -itis meaning inflammation.
* * *- epidemic gangrenous p. a generally fatal disease affecting chiefly children in the tropics, characterized by gangrenous ulceration of the rectum and anus, accompanied by frequent watery stools and tenesmus. SYN: bicho, caribi, Indian sickness.- idiopathic p. probably a variant of ulcerative colitis involving the rectum; some cases progress to involve the remainder of the colon as well. SYN: chronic ulcerative p..
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proc·ti·tis präk-'tīt-əs n inflammation of the anus and rectum* * *
n.inflammation of the rectum. Symptoms are ineffectual straining to empty the bowels (tenesmus), diarrhoea, and often bleeding. Proctitis is invariably present in ulcerative colitis and sometimes in Crohn's disease, but may occur independently (idiopathic proctitis). Rarer causes include damage by irradiation (for example in radiation therapy for cervical cancer), by lymphogranuloma venereum, or after a colostomy has rendered the rectum nonfunctional (disuse proctitis).* * *
proc·ti·tis (prok-tiґtis) [proct- + -itis] inflammation of the rectum.
Medical dictionary. 2011.
