Present therapy of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) is aimed at relieving inf lammation and treating signs and symptoms. Therapy consists of nonspecific anti-inflammatory agents, such as 5-aminosalicylic acid, glucocorticoids, immunomodulators and anti-TNF therapy. The goals of therapy should include the induction and maintenance of remission and an attempt to heal the mucosa with the ultimat...

The inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are a group of chronic diseases that result from a confluence of genetic and environmental triggers. IBD have two main clinical phenotypes, ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). UC is characterized by mucosal inflammation that is limited to the colon, beginning in the rectum and extending proximally in a continuous and circumferential fashion. C...

The widespread availability of gastrointestinal endoscopy has changed the management of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) to an important extent. The need for an unpleasant bowel preparation, the high cost, and the discomfort sometimes caused by endoscopic procedures should nonetheless force the clinician to optimize the indications. In this section we will describe the most characteristic lesi...

: Spondyloarthropathy (SpA) as observed in patients with idiopathic inflammatory bowel diseases is categorized according to the recently developed criteria of the European Spondylarthropathy Group, and belongs to a large complex of rheumatic disorders, encompassing ankylosing spondylitis, Reiter's disease, psoriatic arthritis, and reactive arthritis. It has been recognized for many years that p...

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are inflammatory diseases with a multifactorial component that involve the intestinal tract. The two relevant IBD syndromes are Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). One factor involved in IBD development is a genetic predisposition, associated to NOD2/CARD15 and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) polymorphisms that might favor infectious enterocolitis tha...

Colorectal cancer development is possibly the most important complication of inflammatory bowel diseases. Colorectal cancer generally develops in long-standing inflammatory bowel diseases. Although previously it was believed that there is higher risk in ulcerative colitis patients, nowadays, it has been shown that the risk for colorectal cancer is almost the same in both Crohn’s disease and ulc...

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are an heterogeneous group of chronic disorders of intestinal inflammation characterised by periods of remission and exacerbation. Crohn’s disease (CD) an ulcerative colitis (UC) are the two major clinical subtypes of IBD [1]. CD is caracterised by transmural inflammation in a non contiguos pattern anywhere from the mouth to the anus. Ileocolonic region is the ...

including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), have been recognized for many years now to include a hereditary component. Familial occurrence in IBD is probably expected to be less frequent in Greece compared to Northern Europe and America [3]. According to retrospective studies, fi rst-degree familial clustering of IBD in the Mediterranean area, including Greece, seems to not exce...

INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASES AND AIR POLLUTION (Abstract). Air pollution is responsible for the increase in mortality, morbidity and a high number of hospitalizations for respir atory and cardio-vascular diseases. Recently, several studies have shown that air pollution can also affect the digestive system. The major impact was observed on inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn’s disease and ulcerati...

The understanding of the intestinal inflammation occurring in the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) has been immeasurably advanced by the development of the now numerous murine models of intestinal inflammation. The usefulness of this research tool in IBD studies has been enabled by our improved knowledge of mucosal immunity and thus our improved ability to interpret the complex responses of mi...