Table 1.

The Criteria for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

The diagnosis of Crohn’s disease required at least two of the following:

History of abdominal pain, weight loss rectal bleeding or diarrhea Compatible endoscopic findings such as skip lesions, cobblestoning, fistulas, or perianal disease Characteristic radiologic findings such as mucosal ulcerations, fistulas or strictures Characteristic gross features noted at laparotomy and surgical pathology, such as bowel wall induration, mesenteric lymphadenopathy, or serosal creeping fat / inflammation Histopathologic features of transmural inflammation or epithelial granuloma with no evidence of infectious organisms

The diagnosis of ulcerative colitis required one of the following:

Evidence of mucosal inflammation and ulceration based on endoscopic, radiologic, surgical, or histologic findings Findings of diffusely granular or friable mucosa on endoscopy, continuous involvement of the colon by endoscopy, radiographic or pathologic examination, and none of the features of Crohn’s disease.

Patients suspected to have an infectious, antibiotic-associated, or ischemic etiology were excluded