Crohn's is not a 6-week disease: Lifelong management of mild to moderate Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease is an idiopathic, chronic inflammatory disorder of the digestive tract with heterogeneous clinical presentations. Crohn's is currently not a curable disease, and patients are faced with a lifetime of recurrent disease flare-ups and remissions. Management strategies for Crohn's must therefore be targeted toward lifelong management, taking into consideration not only the short-term but also the long-term aspects of the disease. With this in mind, here we review the classifications and natural history of Crohn's disease and discuss possible predictive factors for the disease evolution in a patient. Here we also evaluate the current preferable treatment practices, based on scientifically valid research and collective clinical experience, for the management of mild to moderate Crohn's disease.