There is no single truth regarding the recognition and management of IBD. In this regards the old dictum there is no disease but the patient should be the golden rule. Nowadays, more complicated Crohn's disease cases at relatively young ages are not unusual. Various clinical and extraintestinal manifestations have been seen rarely until now. The evolution of the therapeutic armamentarium is now a double-edged sword since more drugs may mean more side-effects, less compliance and a more critical attitude of health authorities towards the cost of treatment. Education of the patient and the family, creation of empathy and a positive rapport with the patient and a careful analysis of confounding/contributing factors to the disease behaviour are essential elements of optimal therapy of IBD patients.

This book contains the proceedings of Falk Symposium 159, entitled IBD 2007 -- Achievements in Research and Clinical Practice, held in Istanbul, Turkey, on May 4--5, 2007, where opinion leaders with worldwide reputations discuss IBD and related issues in a less well-known part of the world with respect to prevalence, disease behaviour and patient characteristics, as well as the difficulties faced in differential diagnosis and management.

Interdisciplinary symposium bringing together basic science and clinical applications Up-to-date research findings at the highest scientific level

Inhalt
Epidemiology, risk factors and genetics.- Epidemiology and genetics of inflammatory bowel disease in Turkey.- Inflammatory bowel disease in Greece: 25-years' epidemiological and clinical studies.- Inflammatory bowel disease in southern Europe.- Comparison to North and Central Europe.- Bacterial and viral infections mimicking inflammatory bowel disease.- Ileocolonic tuberculosis: a diagnostic challenge.- Bacterial and viral infections mimicking inflammatory bowel diseases.- Inflammatory bowel disease coexistent with viral hepatitis and HIV.- Diagnostic standards and developments in imaging.- Endoscopic and histological grading in inflammatory bowel disease.- Conventional imaging.- Cases and controversies.- State-of-the-Art Lecture: What is the role of surgery for inflammatory bowel disease State of the art 2007.- State-of-the-Art Lecture: The changing face of inflammatory bowel disease over recent decades.- Laboratory markers and other tools.- Antibodies: useful tools or pathophysiology markers?.- How to diagnose Behçet's and intestinal Behçet's disease?.- Stool tests: are they useful?.- Features of drugs used in inflammatory bowel disease.- Features of drugs used in inflammatory bowel disease: 5-aminosalicylic acid (mesalazine).- Immunosuppressive drugs in inflammatory bowel disease: azathioprine.- Antibiotics and probiotics.- Features of drugs used in inflammatory bowel disease.- Treatment algorithms: The standard patient.- Mild-to-moderate left-sided ulcerative colitis and proctitis.- Treatment of mild-to-moderate episodes of extensive ulcerative colitis.- Mild to moderately active ileocaecal Crohn's disease.- Therapy of mild to moderate colonic Crohn's disease.- State-of-the-Art Lecture: Future therapies in inflammatory bowel diseases.- Casesand controversies.- Management of fistulizing Crohn's disease: the conservative approach.- Fistulizing Crohn's disease: the aggressive approach.- Refractory ulcerative colitis: the conservative approach.- Refractory ulcerative colitis: the aggressive approach.- The surgical approach for refractory ulcerative colitis.