Medications
Standard treatment for ulcerative colitis depends on extent of involvement and disease severity. The goal is to induce remission initially with medications, followed by the administration of maintenance medications to prevent a relapse of the disease. The concept of induction of remission and maintenance of remission is very important. The medications used to induce and maintain a remission somewhat overlap, but the treatments are different. Physicians first direct treatment to inducing a remission which involves relief of symptoms and mucosal healing of the lining of the colon and then longer term treatment to maintain the remission.
Anaemia, caused by both chronic blood loss from the gastrointestinal tract and reduced absorption due to the up-regulation of hepcidin should also be treated, and this often requires the use of parenteral iron.
The following sections are sorted first by drug type and, second, by the type of ulcerative colitis.
Read more about this topic: Management Of Ulcerative Colitis