Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract in addition to non-inflammatory complications. Anti-inflammatory treatment of the disease however, requires verification that inflammation is present. In a recent article in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, researchers sought objective measures of IBD inflammation that would provide more information than an endoscopy -which has certain limitations- or other invasive procedures such as ileocolonoscopy (ICO). They evaluated serum and fecal biomarkers and found that combinations, including Calprotectin and MMP9, were correlated with the results from ICO and cross-sectional imaging.
