Inflammatory bowel disease care at Mayo Clinic
Your Mayo Clinic care team
Treating IBD involves specialists in gastroenterology and hepatology, colon and rectal surgery, radiology, laboratory medicine and pathology, and rheumatology, as well as skin and wound care and nutrition.
Having all this expertise in a single place means that your care is discussed among the team, test results are available quickly, appointments are scheduled in coordination and the most highly specialized experts in the world are all working together for your health.
Advanced diagnosis and treatment
Mayo Clinic surgeons have experience diagnosing and treating IBD using the most current management and surgical techniques.
Mayo Clinic researchers helped develop noninvasive imaging techniques that make it possible for doctors to thoroughly inspect the small bowel, such as MR and CT enterography. These tests are more sensitive than conventional imaging for finding inflammation, pockets of bacterial infection (abscesses) and abnormal tunnels that develop between loops of intestine or between the intestine and other organs (fistulas).
Mayo Clinic doctors also use balloon-assisted enteroscopy to look for sources of bleeding that can't be found by other methods. During this procedure, a scope and an overtube with one or two attached balloons are inserted through your mouth or anus into your digestive tract. This method allows for deeper insertion and visualization of your small intestine.
Mayo's colorectal surgeons are committed to using minimally invasive surgical procedures, which are associated with less pain and fewer complications.
Pediatric expertise
Pediatric experts at Mayo Clinic's Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic specialize in providing the care that children require for IBD, including diagnostic tests that don't expose your child to radiation and alternative medications that reduce the need for steroids.
IBD often takes an even greater physical and emotional toll on young people, slowing their growth. At Mayo Clinic, young people and their families work closely with psychologists who can help them navigate the day-to-day difficulties of living with IBD.
Specialized pregnancy care
Women with IBD can usually have successful pregnancies, especially if they can keep the disease in remission during pregnancy. It's important to work with a high-risk obstetrician and a gastroenterologist specializing in IBD. Mayo Clinic doctors have expertise and experience guiding women with IBD through pregnancy and delivery.
The Mayo Clinic experience and patient stories
Our patients tell us that the quality of their interactions, our attention to detail and the efficiency of their visits mean health care like they've never experienced. See the stories of satisfied Mayo Clinic patients.
Staying the course through follow-up care and therapeutic drug monitoring
For most of his adult life, Billy Dowell Jr. has lived with a serious immune-mediated disease process that has threatened not only his dream of playing professional golf, but his very existence. His illness caused painful pelvic joint inflammation, resulted in a perforated bowel, and led to glaucoma. It’s been ongoing, unrelenting, and extremely unpleasant. “I’ve been through the roughest of the rough,” says Billy, a resident of Jacksonville, Florida, who moved there in May…
Expertise and rankings
Experience
Each year, Mayo Clinic doctors diagnose and treat more than 11,000 adults and children with inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Mayo Clinic specializes in helping people with severe symptoms that haven't responded well to treatment in the past.
Expertise
The Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic at Mayo Clinic focuses specifically on people with inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. In addition to routine clinical care, Mayo Clinic doctors are actively involved in research and can provide investigational drug therapy with a variety of drugs for patients who do not respond to standard medical therapy.
Research
Mayo Clinic doctors conduct research in new diagnostic tests and treatments for IBD and conduct clinical trials. For example, Mayo colorectal surgeons pioneered the procedure to remove the diseased colon and rectum and reconnect the intestines to the anus — ileoanal anastomosis (J-pouch surgery) — so that a person can continue to eliminate wastes normally.
Mayo's Center for Cell Signaling in Gastroenterology (C-SIG) focuses its research on mechanisms of cellular and molecular processes in a variety of digestive diseases, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, ranks No. 1 for digestive disorders in the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings. Mayo Clinic in Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona, and Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, are ranked among the Best Hospitals for digestive disorders by U.S. News & World Report. Mayo Clinic Children's Center in Rochester is ranked the No. 1 hospital in Minnesota, and the five-state region of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2024–2025 "Best Children's Hospitals" rankings.
Locations, travel and lodging
Mayo Clinic has major campuses in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona; Jacksonville, Florida; and Rochester, Minnesota. The Mayo Clinic Health System has dozens of locations in several states.
For more information on visiting Mayo Clinic, choose your location below:
Costs and insurance
Mayo Clinic works with hundreds of insurance companies and is an in-network provider for millions of people.
In most cases, Mayo Clinic doesn't require a physician referral. Some insurers require referrals or may have additional requirements for certain medical care. All appointments are prioritized on the basis of medical need.
Learn more about appointments at Mayo Clinic.
Please contact your insurance company to verify medical coverage and to obtain any needed authorization prior to your visit. Often, your insurer's customer service number is printed on the back of your insurance card.
Sept. 03, 2022