Main description:

An international symposium on inflammatory bowel diseases was held in Jerusalem on September 7th-9th, 1981. The symposium was sponsored by the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical SchooL and the Israeli Gastroenterological Society. The idea was to bring together leading workers in the field, to invite all those interested to present their new work on IBD and thus to enable exchange of information and cross fertilization needed to improve our understanding and handling of these diseases. The symposium was organized into four panels devoted to state of the art reviews. presentation of new findings and approaches on the follow ing topics: New pathological concepts. etiology. pathogenesis and management of IBD. In addition. 89 abstracts were presented as posters during the symposium. all of which were published in the book of abstracts. The concluding panel outlined new directions for future research on IBD. We owe our gratitude to Drs. J. B. Kirsner, G. L. Gitnick and C. E. Rubin, members of the Organizing Committee, without whose encouragement and help the symposium could not have taken place. The Organizing Committee owes a considerable debt of gratitude to all the contributors who presented their work in a clear and concise manner, to all those who presented posters and to all the participants who came from 27 countries. Their stimulating presentations and discussions con tributed to the success of the meeting.

Contents:

New pathological concepts.- 1. Pathologic aspects of diagnosis, pathogenesis, and etiology of idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease.- 2. Epithelioid granuloma and related histologic features which may differentiate Crohn's disease from ulcerative colitis in rectal biopsies.- 3. Dysplasia and carcinoma in inflammatory bowel disease.- 4. Athymic nude mice in studies of Crohn's disease.- Etiology.- 5. Inflammatory bowel disease - The search for an etiology.- 6. Idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): a review of immuno-logical mechanisms.- 7. Ulcerative colitis: an autoimmune disease?.- 8. Bacterial etiology of inflammatory bowel disease.- 9. Cytotoxic inducers in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.- 10. Animal models for human inflammatory bowel diseases.- Pathogenesis.- 11. Newer concepts of IBD epidemiology.- 12. Epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease. State of the art and etiologic inferences.- 13. Genetics and inflammatory bowel disease.- 14. Possible role of prostanoids as mediators in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease.- 15. Prostaglandins and the mode of action of sulphasalazine in ulcerative colitis: two-opposing viewpoints.- 16. Pathogenesis of diarrhea in inflammatory bowel disease.- 17. Psychiatric illness and inflammatory bowel disease.- Management.- 18. Introduction.- 19. Colonoscopy in inflammatory bowel disease.- 20. Drug therapy of inflammatory bowel disease.- 21. Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) in inflammatory bowel disease.- 22. Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease in children.- 23. Surgical management.- New directions for future research.- 24. Inflammatory bowel disease - New directions for future research.- 25. New directions for medical research in inflammatory bowel disease.- 26. New directions for future research: surgical/clinical.