If experts in inflammatory bowel disease were a family, dinner table conversations would be increasingly awkward.
For years, the field has been divided over the value of a relatively new practice in IBD: therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). Proponents argue that proactive TDM enables physicians to prevent relapses before they occur. Skeptics say there is no strong evidence to show TDM does anything except prompt higher doses of drugs and additional tests, which may not be covered by insurance.
In a