[Pharmacologic therapy of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis]

Important progress has been made in recent years in the understanding of pathogenesis of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, but the cause of IBD remains obscure, so curative therapy is still lacking. Current treatment strategies as sulphasalazine, mesalasine, glucocorticosteroids are mainly anti-inflammatory. In the past years the greatest advances have been characterised by the more widespread use of topically acting steroids, immunosuppressants and by the introduction of immunomodulatory agents as cytokines and anticytokines. The author summarises the standard therapy and new possibilities of medical treatment for IBD and suggests some algorythms for clinical practice.