The rectal cuff did not show much inflammation until the last couple of years. But fortunately it's only characterized as "mild colitis." As we all know this is the most likely area for cancer to develop, if there is chronic inflammation.
The finding of mild inflammation in the cuff, the one remaining piece of colonic tissue, and much worse inflammation in the ileal tissue, is one of the things which likely has my Doctor suspecting Crohn's and wanting to treat it as though it were Crohn's. However, My GI reinforced once again that there are more subsets of IBD than UC, Crohn's and Pouchitis so labelling it something is only being done for diagnostic and treatment purposes so I can get insurance coverage. A lot of people do not understand this point. The labelling of what it is is not's what important, the treatment is.
As my doctor said, "there are more subsets of IBD than we know what to call them........ dozens or more.....so what we call it doesn't matter. It's inflammation and it has to be treated." It's funny but that is almost verbatim what he said and I have been trying to make this point on this board for years in response to any number of "I have Crohn's and the sky is falling" threads posted on this board which operate off scientific assumptions that are almost as wrong as the one time assumption that the Earth is flat.
Solomon, I agree on the Remicade treatment but it has to wait until I am done with the radioactive iodine treatment for my thyroid cancer in September. My GI wrote a letter to my endocrinologist about the scope findings and the Remicade treatment, and my endocrinologist responded, basically saying that the Remicade can be started immediately after my radioactive iodine treatment is done and he also told me to hold off on doing the blood tests my GI ordered in conjunction with the Remicade treatment until I am ready to start it.