In this second episode, we discuss the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) guidelines that were published in the last quarter of 2025. While there were hundreds of studies published in IBD over this period, we believe it is important to understand the current tone of IBD management and what has changed from the last round of ACG guidelines that were published between 2017-2019.

Member of the Building Research in IBD Globally (BRIDGe) Group distill the essential concepts and updates from these guidelines that every practicing gastroenterologist, APP and IBD professional needs to know right now.

The BRIDGe Group (https://www.bridgeibd.com/) - founded in 2006 - is a collaboration of 14 global IBD experts across three continents and four countries. With a shared goal of improving patient-centered care, the group collectively follows more than 10,000 patients with IBD and leads collaborative research shaping the future of treatment.

What You'll Learn from this Episode:

• How treatment guidelines and goals have evolved and treatment targets have been refined in IBD
• Review the dramatic expansion of therapeutic mechanisms in IBD and how to approach selection of agents for first line therapy and beyond
• The recommended use of advanced therapy at diagnosis in Crohn's disease and how to use new monitoring modalities in practice
• A practical approach to vaccination, screening for mental health disorders and other high impact health maintenance considerations

Featured Contributors:

• Dr. Peter Irving - Guy's and St. Thomas' (London, UK)
• Dr. Gil Melmed - Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles, CA)
• Dr. Tom Ullman - Mount Sinai Medical Center (New York, NY)
• Dr. Corey Siegel - Dartmouth Health (Lebanon, NH)

Articles Reviewed:

• Rubin DT, Ananthakrishnan AN, Siegel CA, Barnes EL, Long MD. ACG Clinical Guideline Update: Ulcerative Colitis in Adults. Am J Gastroenterol. 2025 Jun 3;120(6):1187‑1224. PMID: 41384833.
• Lichtenstein GR, Loftus EV, Afzali A, Long MD, Barnes EL, Isaacs KL, Ha CY. ACG Clinical Guideline: Management of Crohn's Disease in Adults. Am J Gastroenterol. 2025 Jun 3;120(6):1225-1264. PMID: 40701562
• Farraye FA, Melmed GY, Lichtenstein GR, Barnes EL, Limketkai BN, Caldera F, Kane SV. ACG Clinical Guideline Update: Preventive Care in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Am J Gastroenterol. 2025 Jul 2;120(7):1447‑1473. PMID: 40701559

Episode Credits:

This episode of DIGESTING was produced by David Boyer, who not only was patient enough to teach us how to make a podcast but skilled enough to allow us to sound somewhat professional. Additional thanks to Jennifer Greene as the BRIDGe program manager for keeping us in a straight line to get this done.

Episode 2 of DIGESTING was sponsored by Abbvie. All content was developed independently by the BRIDGe group.

Follow DIGESTING wherever you get your podcasts and check out more about BRIDGe at www.BRIDGeIBD.com [bridgeibd.com]. We look forward to bringing you our next episode soon.