A recent study (Sandborn WJ, et al. Gastroenterol 2015; 148: 740-50, editorial 701-4) shows that budesonide foam can be helpful for patients with ulcerative proctitis and ulcerative proctosigmoiditis.

Design: Two identical randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials examined the use of budesonide foam in 546 patients with mild to moderate ulcerative proctitis or ulcerative proctosigmoiditis.  Patients had at least 5 cm of involved mucosa but no more than 40 cm. Dosing: 2 mg/25 mL twice daily for 2 weeks, then once daily for 4 weeks. The primary endpoint of remission was defined as an endoscopy subscore of ≤1, rectal bleeding subscore of 0, and improvement or no change from baseline in stool frequency subscore of the Mayo score. It is noted that about 90% of patients had moderate Mayo endoscopy subscore at baseline.

Key findings:

• Combining the results of the studies, 41.2% achieved the primary end point of remission at the end of 6 weeks, compared with 24.0% of placebo patients.
• There were 10 patients (3.7%) with low morning cortisol (compared with 0.7% of placebo-treated patients) and 14% who had abnormal ACTH testing at 6 weeks (compared with 4% of placebo-treated patients), though there no reported signs/symptoms of adrenal suppression present.

The associated editorial suggests that budesonide could be implemented in patients who did not respond to 5-ASA topical therapy (suppository for proctitis and enema for proctosigmoiditis).  In addition, the editorial questions whether a single night-time administration may be more effective by maximizing adherence.

Bottomline: Budesonide foam was superior to placebo in this study and may eliminate the need for systemic steroid use.  As the editorial suggests, 5-ASA topical therapy likely should be considered as first-line treatment.

Related blog post: Budesonide for Ulcerative Colitis