About this Research Topic
Microscopic colitis (MC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease characterized by an almost normal endoscopic appearance of the colon and is regarded as one of the most common causes of chronic watery non-bloody diarrhea (CNBD) in Western countries. MC presents distinct histological abnormalities, which identify three histological subtypes, collagenous colitis (CC), lymphocytic colitis (LC), and incomplete microscopic colitis (MCI).
To date, colonoscopy with histological analysis on multiple biopsies collected along the colon represents the procedure to assess the diagnosis of MC and to evaluate the response to medical therapy. A greater awareness, and concomitantly an increasing number of diagnoses over the last years, has demonstrated that the incidence and prevalence of MC are on the rise.
The difficulties in diagnosis of MC, the absence of features that allow clinicians to distinguish between MC and the other causes of chronic, watery diarrhea, including functional bowel disorders, the unraveled pathogenesis, and the proposed therapies show an emerging need for less-invasive diagnostic procedures that are also rapid, convenient, standardized, and reproducible, and encourage scientists to turn their attention to the identification of new diagnostic tools for MC.
This calls for an immediate need for a focused issue on “The Dark Side of Microscopic Colitis” which can not only enhance the understanding of this field but also evaluate for patient outcomes.
We aim to develop this Research Topic to contribute, share, and update advancements in this field.
Themes and questions that we want to address in this Research Topic include, but are not limited to:
• The discovery of potential new biomarkers for the diagnosis of MC
• Omics approaches for the discovery of new biomarkers
• Pathogenesis of MC
• New treatment strategies
• The natural history of MC
• Drug-induced MC
• The border of functional/organic distinction in microscopic colitis
• Nutrition in MC
To date, colonoscopy with histological analysis on multiple biopsies collected along the colon represents the procedure to assess the diagnosis of MC and to evaluate the response to medical therapy. A greater awareness, and concomitantly an increasing number of diagnoses over the last years, has demonstrated that the incidence and prevalence of MC are on the rise.
The difficulties in diagnosis of MC, the absence of features that allow clinicians to distinguish between MC and the other causes of chronic, watery diarrhea, including functional bowel disorders, the unraveled pathogenesis, and the proposed therapies show an emerging need for less-invasive diagnostic procedures that are also rapid, convenient, standardized, and reproducible, and encourage scientists to turn their attention to the identification of new diagnostic tools for MC.
This calls for an immediate need for a focused issue on “The Dark Side of Microscopic Colitis” which can not only enhance the understanding of this field but also evaluate for patient outcomes.
We aim to develop this Research Topic to contribute, share, and update advancements in this field.
Themes and questions that we want to address in this Research Topic include, but are not limited to:
• The discovery of potential new biomarkers for the diagnosis of MC
• Omics approaches for the discovery of new biomarkers
• Pathogenesis of MC
• New treatment strategies
• The natural history of MC
• Drug-induced MC
• The border of functional/organic distinction in microscopic colitis
• Nutrition in MC
Keywords: Incomplete Microscopic Colitis, Collagenous colitis, Lymphocytic colitis, Chronic non-bloody diarrhea, Microscopic Colitis
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