Pratima Dibba, MD, is a gastroenterologist with expertise in nutrition and gastrointestinal health. She specializes in preventive gastrointestinal care, colon cancer screening, and overall digestive health. A graduate of the University of Medicine and Health Sciences in St. Kitts, Dr. Dibba completed her internal medicine residency at Hackensack UMC Mountainside Hospital and a three-year fellowship in Gastroenterology & Hepatology at New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in affiliation with Cornell University.
The American Gastroenterological Association released new practice guidelines on the role of biomarkers in managing Crohn’s disease. The guidelines consist of 11 conditional recommendations intended to assist clinicians in using common fecal and serum biomarkers, including fecal protein and C-reactive protein, in cross-sectional and longitudinal monitoring of disease activity in individuals with Crohn’s disease.
It is also difficult to make assessments of disease activity based on symptoms alone. Symptoms endorsed by patients may not parallel disease activity as it would be graded on endoscopic evaluation. Therefore, any non-invasive markers supplemental to colonoscopies and imaging may be helpful.