V International Symposium on Inflammatory Bowel Diseases:

This book, the proceedings of the V International Symposium on Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (Falk Symposium 101) held in Tel-Aviv, Israel, on September 22-24, 1997, is devoted to inflammatory bowel diseases towards the 21st century. The achievements of the last fifty years, medical, surgical and in the basic sciences, are summarized in detail. Controversies with respect of the aetio-pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases are discussed together with pending clinical controversies, such as the best way to monitor treatment, early versus late surgery, post-operative maintenance and surveillance. A special section is devoted to clarification of for whom each of the available drugs is the drug of choice. Finally, a large section deals with surgical controversies, such as laparoscopic surgery in inflammatory bowel diseases, one- versus two-stage ileo-anal anastomosis and treatment of fistula in Crohn's disease. The last section outlines needs, both in the medical sciences and in the clinic.