Clinical IBD Group
The Clinical IBD Group provides a world-renowned service for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), regional services in intestinal failure and secondary and tertiary care for the whole spectrum of gastrointestinal disease. The TGU leads the way internationally in diagnosis and treatment of IBD and setting the research agenda.
The service attracts patients internationally and offers expertise in severe ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, IBD-associated liver disease/intestinal failure, immunotherapy-induced colitis, and inflammation-associated cancer management, which is uniquely concentrated in Oxford. The IBD cohort, established by Dr Keshav and Professor Uhlig, has >3500 well characterised patients with IBD under follow up in Oxford, with almost 2500 patients contributing to TrueColours-IBD digital monitoring of their condition using validated indices .
A pivotal strength of the unit is the integration between basic science, translational medicine, clinical trials and everyday clinical care, often of the most complex cases of IBD. As a consequence there are multiple collaborations and independencies, not only with specialist colorectal surgery, but also with hepatobiliary medicine, interventional radiology or endoscopy, pathology, specialist nursing and dietetics. 80% of patients are secondary care referrals, which is particularly unusual in a major centre and means that new, untreated patients with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease are seen every week.
The group has attracted >£12m in funding and published >200 papers in high impact journals (Lancet, Nature Medicine, Nature Rev Gastro Hep, Gastroenterology, Gut etc), in the past 3 years.