title: From the surface to the single cell: Novel endoscopic approaches in inflammatory bowel disease.
abstract: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) comprise the two major entities Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis and endoscopic imaging of the gastrointestinal tract has always been an integral and central part in the management of IBD patients. Within the recent years, mucosal healing emerged as a key treatment goal in IBD that substantially decides about the clinical outcome of IBD patients, thereby demanding for a precise, timely and detailed endoscopic assessment of the mucosal inflammation associated with IBD. Further, molecular imaging has tremendously expanded the clinical utility and applications of modern endoscopy, now encompassing not only diagnosis, surveillance, and treatment but also the prediction of individual therapy response. Within this review we describe novel endoscopic approaches and advanced endoscopic imaging methods for the diagnosis, treatment and surveillance of IBD patients. We begin by providing an overview over novel and advanced imaging techniques such as magnification endoscopy and dye-based and dye-less chromoendoscopy, endomicroscopy and endocytoscopy. We then describe how these techniques can be utilized for the precise and ultrastructural assessment of mucosal inflammation and dysplasia development associated with IBD and outline how they have enabled the endoscopist to gain insight onto the cellular level in real-time. Finally, we provide an outlook on how molecular imaging has rapidly evolved in the recent past and can be used to make individual predictions about the therapeutic response towards biological treatment.
authors.affiliation: Timo Rath, Gian Eugenio Tontini, Markus F Neurath, Helmut Neumann, Department of Medicine 1, Division of Gastroenterology, University Hospital Erlangen, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rath
authors.affiliation: Timo Rath, Gian Eugenio Tontini, Markus F Neurath, Helmut Neumann, Department of Medicine 1, Division of Gastroenterology, University Hospital Erlangen, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Gian Eugenio
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Tontini
authors.affiliation: Timo Rath, Gian Eugenio Tontini, Markus F Neurath, Helmut Neumann, Department of Medicine 1, Division of Gastroenterology, University Hospital Erlangen, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Neurath
authors.affiliation: Timo Rath, Gian Eugenio Tontini, Markus F Neurath, Helmut Neumann, Department of Medicine 1, Division of Gastroenterology, University Hospital Erlangen, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Helmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Neumann
mesh_terms: D002863:Chromogenic Compounds / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000473:pathology*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal / Q000379:methods*; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000473:pathology*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D057054:Molecular Imaging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests
chemical_list: D002863:Chromogenic Compounds
keywords: Colon; Colorectal neoplasms; Crohn’s disease; Gastrointestinal endoscopy; Inflammatory bowel diseases; Ulcerative colitis