General principles of medical therapy of inflammatory bowel disease

Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) are chronic gastrointestinal diseases that affect patients in the prime of their lives. Most patients need to take daily medications from diagnosis until death. Because inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients generally have a normal lifespan, chronic medical therapy for IBD must be tolerable, simple to adhere to, and have as few side effects as possible. Different patients require different types of medical therapy and treatment goals of physicians should reflect those of their patients. This article discusses the impact of IBD on quality of life and stresses the importance of appropriate and individualized medical therapy. To help clinicians determine the efficacy of particular 11313 medications, this article offers a brief, practical interpretation of clinical, endoscopic, and quality-of-life end points used in clinical trials. Finally, it provides a summary of the current accepted medical therapies for UC and CD and recommendations for using these medications in clinical practice.