The complexity of managing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) stems from the heterogeneity of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. This leads to differences in disease course, complications, and treatment responses among patients. Current treatment strategies rely on a trial-and-error approach, but there's a need for personalized therapy. Efforts have been made to develop reliable prognostic and predictive biomarkers to overcome disease heterogeneity. This article discusses common mistakes in biomarker development, interpretation, and application in IBD, emphasizing evidence-based insights and lessons learned from other fields.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains an important global health concern. It is estimated that there are approximately 50 million people infected with HCV globally, with around 1 million new infections each year and about 242,000 deaths annually attributed to HCV-related complications. Most acute HCV infections (55–85%) become chronic due to the virus’s effective evasion strategies, with spontaneous clearance being rare once chronicity is established. This condition often progresses silently, with many individuals unaware of their infection until advanced liver damage has occurred. If left untreated, HCV can lead to severe complications, including liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HCV transmission occurs mainly through percutaneous exposure to infected blood. HCV can also spread from mother to infant (vertical transmission) and, less frequently, via sexual contact.1,2 In recent years, the introduction of oral direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), with remarkable safety and effectiveness profiles, has led to a sustained virological response (SVR) in virtually all (>97%) HCV-infected patients, regardless of HCV genotype or disease stage. However, significant barriers remain, such as issues with diagnosis, access to treatment and awareness of the disease.

Here, we discuss some of the misconceptions in HCV management and provide a practical management approach grounded in evidence and clinical experience.

Ostomy management refers to the care and maintenance of an ostomy and involves various aspects to ensure the individual’s health, comfort, and quality of life. This should involve the patient, a close support system (family and/or friends), and a healthcare team, including ostomy nurses and healthcare professionals specialising in ostomy care.

Adequate nutrition is essential for the homeostasis of fluids and nutrients, growth and thriving, especially in children. While the underlying principle of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) placement is the same for both adults and children—providing a means of enteral feeding through the stomach—the indications, considerations and techniques differ owing to anatomical differences, age-dependent physiological concerns, and the age- and disease-specific needs of the child.

If feeding via nasogastric tube (NGT) or naso-jejunal tube (NJT) is necessary for a prolonged time, placement of a PEG or percutaneous endoscopic gastro-jejunal (PEG-J) tube should be considered. A PEG tube also allows the delivery of medications and venting of the stomach when needed. Nutrition via PEG facilitates the transition to out-of-hospital care and improves the quality of life (QoL) for children and families while improving the outcome of children with chronic diseases.

There are recent clinical guidelines providing guidance for PEG tube placement in children, but little advice on, e.g., choosing the right device for the right patient, details on postoperative management, removal of the PEG tube and other specific cases. The following article provides a combination of evidence-based data and the authors’ clinical experience.

Malnutrition frequently occurs in patients who have chronic liver disease and worsens their prognosis. There are multiple causes of malnutrition in the context of cirrhosis: low dietary intake, malabsorption, metabolic alterations and modification of substrate utilisation. Sarcopenia, which is defined by loss of muscle mass and function, is a major component of malnutrition in patients with cirrhosis. Sarcopenia adversely affects the number and severity of complications, quality of life, the outcome of liver transplantation and the overall survival rate of patients with advanced liver disease. Physicians should be aware of the clinical and prognostic relevance of nutritional status, how to promptly recognise malnutrition and sarcopenia in patients with liver cirrhosis and how to appropriately manage these conditions. Here we discuss some mistakes that are frequently made regarding nutrition in chronic liver disease, and we provide evidence and experience-based approaches to avoid them.