The chest x-ray is distinctive with features that appear similar to an extensive pneumonia, with both lungs showing widespread white patches. The white patches may seem to migrate from one area of the lung to another as the disease persists or progresses. Computed tomography (CT) may be used to confirm the diagnosis. Often the findings are typical enough to allow the doctor to make a diagnosis without ordering additional tests. To confirm the diagnosis, a doctor may perform a lung biopsy using a bronchoscope. Many times, a larger specimen is needed and must be removed surgically.

Plain chest radiography shows normal lung volumes, with characteristic patchy unilateral or bilateral consolidation. Small nodular opacities occur in up to 50% of patients and large nodules in 15%. On high resolution computed tomography, airspace consolidation with air bronchograms is present in more than 90% of patients, often with a lower zone predominance A subpleural or peribronchiolar distribution is noted in up to 50% of patients. Ground glass appearance or hazy opacities associated with the consolidation are detected in most patients.

Pulmonary physiology is restrictive with a reduced diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DCO). Airflow limitation is uncommon; gas exchange is usually abnormal and mild hypoxemia is common. Bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage reveals up to 40% lymphocytes, along with more subtle increases in neutrophils and eosinophils. In patients with typical clinical and radiographic features, a transbronchial biopsy that shows the pathologic pattern of organizing pneumonia and lacks features of an alternative diagnosis is adequate to make a tentative diagnosis and start therapy. On surgical lung biopsy, the histopathologic pattern is organizing pneumonia with preserved lung architecture; this pattern is not exclusive to BOOP and must be interpreted in the clinical context.

Histologically, cryptogenic organizing pneumonia is characterized by the presence of polypoid plugs of loose organizing connective tissue (Masson bodies) within alveolar ducts, alveoli, and bronchioles.

Rare cases of BOOP have induced with lobar cicatricial atelectasis.

Lung symptoms in a patient who is taking a medicinal drug that can cause pulmonary toxicity should not automatically lead to a diagnosis of "pulmonary toxicity due to the medicinal drug", because some patients can have another (i.e., simultaneous) lung disease, e.g. an infection of the lungs "not" related to the medicinal drugs the patient is taking. But if the patient is taking such a medicinal drug, this should not be overlooked. Diagnostic care should be executed. The correct diagnosis is an exclusion diagnosis and can require some tests.

Side effects on the lungs can be very varied, and can include signs and symptoms that are either clinical, or radiological (i.e., seen on chest X-ray or CT), or both. They can include lung inflammation (pneumonitis), secondary (in this context, indirectly caused) lung infection (pneumonia), lung fibrosis, organising pneumonia (bronchiolitis obliterans organising pneumonia, BOOP), ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome), solitary pulmonary mass (even including lung cancer in some cases, mainly in cases of asbestos-related lung disease, but today this is very rare, because asbestos is now completely prohibited by law in most countries), or pulmonary nodule. The diagnosis should be made by a specialist, if possible.

The diagnosis is usually confirmed by biopsies on colonoscopy. Fecal calprotectin is useful as an initial investigation, which may suggest the possibility of IBD, as this test is sensitive but not specific for IBD.

While IBD can limit quality of life because of pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and other socially undesired symptoms, it is rarely fatal on its own. Fatalities due to complications such as toxic megacolon, bowel perforation and surgical complications are also rare..

Around one-third of individuals with IBD experience persistent gastrointestinal symptoms similar to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in the absence of objective evidence of disease activity. Despite enduring the side-effects of long-term therapies, this cohort has a quality of life that is not significantly different to that of individuals with uncontrolled, objectively active disease, and escalation of therapy to biological agents is typically ineffective in resolving their symptoms. The cause of these IBS-like symptoms is unclear, but it has been suggested that changes in the gut-brain axis, epithelial barrier dysfunction, and the gut flora may be partially responsible.

While patients of IBD do have an increased risk of colorectal cancer, this is usually caught much earlier than the general population in routine surveillance of the colon by colonoscopy, and therefore patients are much more likely to survive.

New evidence suggests that patients with IBD may have an elevated risk of endothelial dysfunction and coronary artery disease.

A recent literature review by Gandhi et al. described that IBD patients over the age of 65 and females are at increased risk of coronary artery disease despite the lack of traditional risk factors.

The goal of treatment is toward achieving remission, after which the patient is usually switched to a lighter drug with fewer potential side effects. Every so often, an acute resurgence of the original symptoms may appear; this is known as a "flare-up". Depending on the circumstances, it may go away on its own or require medication. The time between flare-ups may be anywhere from weeks to years, and varies wildly between patients – a few have never experienced a flare-up.

Life with IBD can be challenging, however, it should not impede your ability to live a normal life. Patients with IBD can go to college, hold a normal job, get married, have children etc. As is the nature of any chronic, unpredictable disease, there will be ups and downs. The progress made in IBD research and treatment is astounding and will only improve in the years to come.

Although living with IBD can be difficult, there are numerous resources available to help families navigate the ins and out of IBD. The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) is an excellent resource. CCFA is a vital resource to getting questions answered and finding support about life with IBD.

It has been proposed that a vertebral subluxation can negatively affect general health by altering the neurological communication between the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system. Although individuals may not always be symptomatic, straight chiropractors believe that the presence of vertebral subluxation is in itself justification for correction via spinal adjustment.

Chiropractic treatment of vertebral subluxation focuses on delivering a chiropractic adjustment which is a high velocity low amplitude (HVLA) thrust to the dysfunctional spinal segments to help correct the chiropractic subluxation complex. Spinal adjustment is the primary procedure used by chiropractors in the adjustment. Adjustment/manipulation has been shown to help with low back pain, neck pain and tension type headaches, but further studies are inconclusive on the use of spinal manipulation outside the treatment of neuromusculoskeletal disorders.

Historically, the detection of spinal misalignments (subluxations) by the chiropractic profession has relied on X-ray findings and physical examination. At least 2 of the following 4 physical signs and/or symptoms must be documented to qualify for reimbursement:

- Pain and tenderness

- Asymmetry/misalignment

- Range of motion abnormality

- Tissue/tone changes