Internal Medicine II Practice Test

Arthropathies can accompany diseases that have systemic inflammation or infection beyond the gut. In inflammatory bowel disease, such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn disease, joint involvement is a known extraintestinal manifestation. It typically presents as a large-joint, asymmetric arthritis and often tracks with the activity of the intestinal disease. Whipple disease, a chronic infection, also commonly shows migratory arthritis as part of its systemic picture. In contrast, irritable bowel syndrome is a functional disorder without inflammatory or infectious processes, so true arthropathy is not a typical feature. Therefore, arthropathy can occur with ulcerative colitis, Crohn disease, and Whipple disease, but not with irritable bowel syndrome.