Most symposia on chronic inflammatory bowel disease during the last few years have focused on new aspects of aetiology and pathophysiology. However, based on such new aspects, changes in diagnosis and treatment have been developed in recent years and some others are currently under investigation. This book, the proceedings of Falk Symposium 97: Clinical Challenges in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - Diagnosis, Prognosis and Treatment, held in Switzerland in April 1997, summarizes these changes and new developments, discusses their value and defines further new approaches. The topics include primary diagnosis, definition of different patient groups, special problems of these patients in daily life and recent therapeutic principles.