Endoscopic therapy in inflammatory bowel diseases (with videos)

Endoscopic therapies are important modalities in the treatment of IBD, adjunct to medical and surgical approaches. These therapeutic techniques are particularly useful in the management of IBD-associated or IBD surgery-associated strictures, fistulas, and sinuses and colitis-associated neoplasia. Although the main focus of endoscopic therapies in IBD has been on balloon stricture dilation and ablation of adenoma-like lesions, new endoscopic approaches are emerging, including needle-knife stricturotomy, needle-knife sinusotomy, endoscopic stent placement, and fistula tract injection. Risk management of endoscopy-associated adverse events is also evolving. The application of endoscopic techniques in novel ways in the treatment of IBD is just beginning and will likely expand rapidly in the near future. Copyright © 2013 by the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.