What should you know about penetrating Crohn's disease?

The tract, sometimes called a fistula, can connect the bowel with another loop of bowel, the skin, bladder or nearby organs. Some people notice persistent abdominal pain, drainage from an opening near the anus, repeated skin irritation, diarrhoea, fever or a change in bowel habits. Symptoms depend on where the tract forms, and they do not by themselves show how extensive the disease is.

A specialist may use your history, an examination, blood tests and bowel imaging to assess inflammation, infection, anaemia and the tract’s path. Read more about Crohn's Disease, Abdominal Pain and Diarrhoea for background on related symptoms.

Contact your GP or gastroenterology team if you develop new drainage, worsening pain, fever, or a persistent change in bowel function. Keep taking prescribed Crohn’s medicines unless your clinician tells you otherwise, and record bowel symptoms, temperature, pain, drainage and food or medicine changes.

Treatment may combine medicine to control inflammation with drainage or a procedure when an abscess or complex tract is present. A GP Consultation and Blood Test may be part of the assessment, but the plan must be tailored to the tract and your overall health.

Seek urgent help for severe or rapidly worsening abdominal pain, a swollen abdomen, repeated vomiting, inability to pass stool or gas, heavy bleeding, faintness, confusion, or fever with shaking chills. These features can signal obstruction, significant infection or another complication requiring prompt assessment.

Ask where the tract is, whether an abscess is present, which tests are needed, how treatment will be monitored, how to protect nutrition, and which symptoms should trigger urgent review.