Letter: endoscopic balloon dilatation or strictureplasty for stricturing Crohn's disease? Authors' reply.

We thank Drs Yamamoto and Shiraki for their letter1 about our article.2 We agree with their comments on the need for prospective trials on the optimal treatment of intestinal strictures in Crohn's disease. More studies on the best medical treatment for prevention of recurrent stricture formation after an intestinal resection are required. Furthermore, evidence-based recommendations on the best possible treatment of a short intestinal stricture are absent. Neither a strictureplasty nor endoscopic dilation cures Crohn's disease. Hence, the best symptomatic treatment in the long-term perspective needs to be assessed while taking into account frequency of recurrence, complications, health-related quality of life and also health-economic aspects. We agree on the need for prospective controlled trials comparing strictureplasty with endoscopic dilation. Declaration of personal interests: Anders Gustavsson has served as a speaker for MSD. Jonas Halfvarson has served as a speaker for MSD, Abbott and Renapharma Vifor. Curt Tysk has served as a speaker for Tillotts Pharma, Falk Pharma, Ferring, MSD and AstraZeneca. Declaration of funding interests: The study was funded in part by The Foundation for Clinical Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, United States and Uppsala-Örebro Regional Research Council, Sweden.