European evidence based consensus on the diagnosis and management of Crohn’s disease: definitions and diagnosis

E F Stange¹, S P L Travis², S Vermeire³, C Beglinger⁴, L Kupcinkas⁵, K Geboes⁶, A Barakauskiene⁷, V Villanacci⁸, A Von Herbay⁹, B F Warren¹⁰, C Gasche¹¹, H Tilg¹², Stefan W Schreiber¹³, J Schölmerich¹⁴, W Reinisch¹⁵ for the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO)

¹ Chefarzt, Abteilung für Innere Medizin 1 Schwerpunkte Gastroenterologie, Hepatologie und Endokrinologie, Robert Bosch Krankenhaus, Stuttgart, Germany
² John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK
³ University Hospital KULeuven, Leuven, Belgium
⁴ Department of Gastroenterology, The University Hospital, Basle, Switzerland
⁵ Kaunas University of Medicine hospital, Department of Gastroenterology, Kaunas, Lithuania
⁶ Department of Pathology, University Hospital KULeuven, Leuven, Belgium
⁷ Clinic of Gastroenterology, Vilnius University Hospital, Vilnius, Lithuania
⁸ Cattedra di Chirurgia Generale, Universita degli Studi di Brescia, UO1 Chirurgia Generale, Spedali Civili Brescia, Brescia, Italy
⁹ St Mark’s Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex, UK
¹⁰ Department of Histopathology, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK
¹¹ Department of Internal Medicine IV, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
¹² University Hospital Innsbruck, Department of Medicine, Innsbruck, Austria
¹³ University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein UKSH, Department of General Internal Medicine, Kiel, Germany
¹⁴ Department of Internal Medicine I, University of Regensburg, Germany
¹⁵ Univ-Klinik Innere Medizin IV, Abt Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Vienna, Austria

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr S P L Travis
John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; simon.travis@orh.nhs.uk; Professor E F Stange, Department of Internal Medicine 1, Robert Bosch Krankenhaus, PO Box 501120, Auerbachstr 110, 70341 Stuttgart, Germany; Eduard.Stange@rbk.de

Received 12 September 2005
Revised version received 18 December 2005

Accepted 21 December 2005

Keywords: Crohn’s disease; definitions; diagnosis; investigations; histopathology; classification; activity indices

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Crohn’s disease (CD) is a lifelong disease arising from an interaction between genetic and environmental factors, but seen predominantly in the developed countries of the world. The precise aetiology is unknown and therefore a causal treatment is not yet available. Within Europe there is a distinct north-south gradient, but the incidence seems to have increased in southern countries in recent years.¹ Many patients live with a considerable symptom burden despite medical treatment in the hope that the aetiology of the disease will shortly be discovered and curative therapies emerge. Although this seems likely to happen at some time in the next decade, clinicians have to advise patients on the basis of information available today rather than an unknown future. Despite a multiplicity of randomised trials there will always be many questions that can only be answered by the exercise of judgement and opinion. This leads to differences in practice between . . . [Full text of this article]

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