It has been more than ten years since the Dutch paediatric ibd working group published its national consensus guideline on diagnosis and treatment. As clinical studies in children with ibd were scarce, guidelines were largely based on expert opinion instead of clinical evidence from the literature. In the preceding decennium, government, ethics committees and industry have become increasingly convinced of the need for clinical studies in children. As a result, the number of clinical studies in children has clearly grown. For children and adolescents with ibd, recent studies have yielded the evidence to support the old guidelines on diagnosis. Results of drug trials have brought new insight into the medical treatment of children with Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis or indeterminate colitis.
