Pediatric inflammatory bowel disease: Unclassified

Abstract

The term indeterminate colitis was first introduced in the 1970s to further classify a subset of patients with inflammatory bowel disease, whose surgical colectomy specimens showed features consistent with both ulcerative colitis and Crohn disease. With time, advances in diagnostics, and recognition of diverse phenotypes of disease, this definition has evolved. In this chapter, we will review the criteria used to establish a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease-unclassified (IBD-U), the epidemiology of IBD-U, diagnostic evaluation, as well as considerations for medical and surgical management.