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Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (PIBD)

We offer highly specialized care for pediatric inflammatory bowel disease and receive patients from all over the country.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an umbrella term for several diseases that include chronically inflamed intestinal mucosa. Almost 50% of the total patient visits at the department of pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition suffer from IBD. Our nearly 3,700 patient visits annually seeking help for IBD mainly come from the Stockholm region. But when it comes to highly specialized care for babies younger than one year, we take on greater responsibility outside the region as well.

The symptoms may vary from patient to patient, depending on the localization of the disease. The most common symptoms include loose stools, often with blood, abdominal pain, and weight loss.

When examining children and young people with gastrointestinal symptoms, the first line of investigation includes blood and stool samples. Depending on the results, we may need to examine the patient with gastroscopy and colonoscopy, including tissue sampling, or different imaging methods, including ultrasound. All children and young people receive general anesthesia during examination of the intestine. 

The treatment of children and adolescents with IBD needs to be individualized depending on the disease, disease localization, objective grading of inflammation severity, and effects of and how they tolerate (often age-dependent) different treatments. Treatment of children and adolescents with IBD includes:

  • Nutritional treatment
  • Pharmacological treatment
  • Surgical treatment
  • Psychosocial support 

The treatment goals for children and young people are that they should achieve freedom from subjective problems as well as objective normalization of previous signs of the disease. These goals must be achieved with as little risk of side effects as possible, and care must be provided to maximize the patient's quality of life.

Center
Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital
The Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital is a part of Karolinska University Hospital, with facilities in several locations in Stockholm.