ECCO-ESGAR Guideline for Diagnostic Assessment in IBD Part 1: Initial diagnosis, monitoring of known IBD, detection of complications

Abstract

This new diagnostic consensus guideline is a joint project of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation [ECCO] and the European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology [ESGAR] that now merges the former ECCO-ESGAR Imaging Guideline and the former ECCO Endoscopy Guideline, also including laboratory parameters. It has been drafted by 30 ECCO and ESGAR members from 17 European countries. All the authors recognize th e work of and are grateful to previous ECCO and ESGAR members who contributed tocreating the earlier consensus guidelines on imaging and endoscopy. The former guidelines have been condensed into this new diagnostic consensus guideline which consists of two papers: the first detailing assessment at initial diagnosis, to monitor treat ment and for the detection of complications; the second dealing with the available scoring systems and general considerations regarding the different diagnostic tools. The strategy to define consensus was similar to that previously described in other ECCO consensus guidelines [available at www.ecco-ibd.eu]. Briefly, an open call for participants was made, with ECCO participants selected by the Guidelines’ Committee of ECCO [known as GuiCom] on the basis of their publication record and a personal statement and ESGAR participants nominated by ESGAR. The following working parties were established: diagnostics at initial diagnosis, diagnostics for monitoring treatment in patients with known IBD, diagnostics for the detect ion of complications, scores for IBD, and general principles and technical aspects. Provisional guideline statements and supporting text were written following a comprehensive literature review, then refined following two voting rounds. The first voting round introduced a more comprehensive voting procedure, in which each Guidelines participants voted on all statements by explicitly reviewing those statements together with their respective supporting text and references. The second voting round included optional national representative participation of ECCO’s 36 member countries and ESGAR’s 28 member countries. The level of evidence was graded according to the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine [www.cebm.net]. The ECCO statements were finalized by the authors at a face-to-face meeting in Barcelona in October 2017 and represent consensus with agreement of at least 80% of the present participants. Consensus statements are intended to be read in context with their qualifying comments and not in isolation. The supporting text was then finalised under the direction of each working group leader [SV, TK, GF, VA, EC], before being integrated by the consensus leaders [CM, JS, AS].

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Affiliated Institutions

• KU Leuven BE
• Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná BR
• University of Manchester GB
• Humanitas University IT
• University Hospital Münster DE
• University of Ioannina GR
• St James's University Hospital GB
• Amerikan Hastanesi TR
• University College London GB
• Manchester Academic Health Science Centre GB
• Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam NL
• Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro Majadahonda ES
• Frederiksberg Hospital DK
• Hospital do Desterro PT
• Center for Pediatric Endocrinology Zurich CH
• University Medical Center Groningen NL
• University of Lisbon PT
• Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital LV
• University of Naples Federico II IT
• University of Amsterdam NL
• Zealand University Hospital DK
• Klinikum Lüneburg DE
• Cleveland Clinic US
• University of Rome Tor Vergata IT
• Hospital CUF Descobertas
• Sheba Medical Center IL
• Hospital Clínic de Barcelona ES
• Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust GB
• Sapienza University of Rome IT
• Royal London Hospital GB
• Mater Dei Hospital MT
• DRK Kliniken Berlin DE
• University of Alberta CA

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