Is the disease course predictable in inflammatory bowel diseases?

During the course of the disease, most patients with Crohn's disease (CD) may eventually develop a stricturing or a perforating complication, and a significant number of patients with both CD and ulcerative colitis will undergo surgery. In recent years, research has focused on the determination of factors important in the prediction of disease course in inflammatory bowel diseases to improve stratification of patients, identify individual patient profiles, including clinical, laboratory and molecular markers, which hopefully will allow physicians to choose the most appropriate management in terms of therapy and intensity of follow-up. This review summarizes the available evidence on clinical, endoscopic variables and biomarkers in the prediction of short and long-term outcome in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases.