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Inflammatory Bowel Disease: From Bench to Bedside pp 763–771Cite as

Fertility and pregnancy in inflammatory bowel disease

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Summary

Most women with IBD can expect an uneventful pregnancy. Evidence compiled over many years indicates the importance of controlling disease activity at the time of conception and during pregnancy to optimize the outcome for mother and baby. For this reason drug therapy is often required to treat flare-ups and maintain remission during this time. Where possible, women with IBD should plan a pregnancy to coincide with times when the disease is quiescent, and drug treatment minimal. In practice, however, many pregnancies are unexpected or occur in women with active disease that requires intensive medical therapy. Provided adequate information has been supplied in advance of conception, much of the apprehension that accompanies these events can be substantially reduced. Ongoing supervision by the clinician during pregnancy and the puerperium provides invaluable support, and enables maternal disease flare-ups to be identified and treated as expediently as possible.

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  1. St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    William Connell

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  1. William Connell
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  1. Cedars-Sinai IBD Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Stephan R. Targan  & Loren C. Karp  & 

  2. Cork University Hospital, Cork, Ireland

    Fergus Shanahan

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© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Connell, W. (2003). Fertility and pregnancy in inflammatory bowel disease. In: Targan, S.R., Shanahan, F., Karp, L.C. (eds) Inflammatory Bowel Disease: From Bench to Bedside. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-25808-6_41

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-25808-6_41

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