Hi Everyone,
Cant you gastro doctor tell you if you have pouchitis by doing a stool culture test and wouldnt this be the easiest way for all of us to find out with we have pouchitis instead of all the guessing that seems to go on here...thanks

Jeffrey

You can have pouchitis and be negative for anything that would show up in stool cultures (O&P, c. diff). Aside from basing a diagnosis on symptoms + negative culture results, the only definitive way to diagnose pouchitis is by scoping.

Ditto. Plus, stool cultures do not identify the location of a possible infection. If you have cuffitis or Crohn's pouchitis, cultures would be negative. Even if it is bacterial overgrowth causing the issue, cultures would not be helpful, because it would be normal flora. Medicine is not a perfect science.

Jan