Chronic inflammatory bowel diseases represent an important medical problem, since they have a devastating impact on the quality of life and require longstanding medical care. Many medical disciplines are involved in tackling the immensely complex studies on pathogenesis, clinical expression and treatment possibilities. This book, the proceedings of the Falk Symposium 105 on Innovative Concepts in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases', held in Rostock, Germany, on April 30 - May 2, 1998, brought together experts from different fields of science to allow a unified view on clinical and basic research....