Published online Oct 26, 2018. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v6.i12.501
Peer-review started: June 25, 2018
First decision: August 3, 2018
Revised: August 17, 2018
Accepted: October 8, 2018
Article in press: October 8, 2018
Published online: October 26, 2018
Core tip: Crohn’s disease (CD) represents a chronic transmural inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract, potentially leading to structural damage and disability. Deep remission (clinical and endoscopic remission), the current therapeutic goal, significantly improves patients’ long-term outcomes. Transmural healing (TH) could be a more effective target. Therefore, this narrative review (the first of its kind, to the best of the author’s knowledge) aims to provide the currently available scientific evidence on the predictive role of TH for long-term outcomes (clinical remission, therapeutic changes, CD-related hospitalizations and surgeries) and to establish whether TH should become a therapeutic endpoint in the treat-to-target strategy.