Heads up! Next year’s Aspen Pediatric GI Meeting will be July 10-14 -terrific learning experience and opportunity to mingle with some exceptional leaders in our field:

MC Dubinsky et al. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2022; 28: 1375-1385. Dashboard-Driven Accelerated Infliximab Induction Dosing Increases Infliximab Durability and Reduces Immunogenicity

In this prospective ‘real-world’ study (adults and children), “cumulative data from each infusion (INF), weight, albumin, C-reactive protein, IFX dose, IFX trough level, and antidrug antibody presence were used to inform subsequent INF dosing.” Key findings:

• 69% of patients (n=180) required accelerated dosing by the 4th infusion dose. In addition, median dosing intervals were accelerated by ~2 weeks for the 3rd infusion and ~4 weeks for the 4th infusion
• The authors report only 6% did not receive a 4th infusion. This early treatment failure rate is much lower than prior studies.
• 123 of 180 remained on infliximab at week 52 (~32% failure rate); however, this rate is overestimated as there were 26 patients who were not considered failures but were changed to home infusions, moved or lost to followup.

My take: The 8-week interval between induction dose (3rd) and maintenance dose (4th) is too long for many pediatric patients. For those using proactive therapeutic monitoring, checking a level prior to 3rd dose should be considered. Using an automated dosing system (like “iDose”) is likely to be helpful in optimizing response. Current target levels for TDM noted in recent post: Selected Slides from NASPGHAN 2022 Postgraduate Course (part 2) & copied below.

E Cowherd et al. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2022; 28: 1332-1337. The Cumulative Incidence of Pouchitis in Pediatric Patients With Ulcerative Colitis

Methods: Within the IQVIA Legacy PharMetrics Adjudicated Claims Database, the authors identified pediatric patients (n=68) with UC who underwent proctocolectomy with IPAA between January 1, 2007, and June 30, 2015. Key finding:  In the first 2 years following IPAA, the cumulative incidence of pouchitis was 54%. My take: Most patients continue to experience significant problems after “curative” surgery.

The 6th International Symposium on Peadiatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (PIBD) was held on September 7-10, 2022, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Highlights of several featured presentations (including video presentation on exposome) regarding the latest updates on nutrition and diet are included at this link (courtesy of Nutritional Therapy for IBD website): PIBD Symposium 2022 Nutritional Highlights

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