Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by acute flares of activity between periods of remission. Approximately 15% of patients with UC will develop an acute severe flare over the lifetime of their disease.
1 Ten percent of patients with UC develop an acute severe flare as their initial presentation of the disease.
2,3 Confirmation of the diagnosis on admission is essential and includes a good history, physical examination, laboratory markers, and imaging of the abdomen (to rule out megacolon), as well as exclusion of
Clostridium difficile and…