At DDW 2008 around 1000 abstracts on inflammatory bowel disease were presented. Our goal in this report is to summarize the most important new data on diagnosis, smoking and cancer related to IBD. MRI is emerging as a basic diagnostic tool in Crohn's disease. New data are accumulating demonstrating that smoking has a negative impact on natural history of CD even when treated in very specialized units, and with moderate tobacco use. When population-based studies are considered, colorectal cancer is not so a frequent complication as has been reported in referente centres. However, its incident does fully justify surveillance, although more and more data show that the key point to diminish the incidence of cancer is a good control of inflammation.