MI Abdalla et al. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2016; 22: 2658-64.  This article reviewed the impact of an ostomy on QOL (quality of life) for Crohn’s disease patients. n=402 with ostomy compared with 4331 CD patients without.

Key findings:

• Patients with ostomy were more likely to be in remission: 48.5% versus 31.35%.
• Having an ostomy did not impact overall health-related quality of life but did reduce social role satisfaction.
• Conclusion: “ostomy is well tolerated…particularly when clinical remission is achieved.”

WKM Liew et al. J Pediatr 2016; 178: 227-32. In this study with 16 patients (aged 6-24 years) who received thalidomide, more information on neuropathy is provided.  “All subjects with cumulative doses greater than 60 g developed polyneuropathy.”  4 of 5 subjects receiving the drug for >20 months developed neuropathy. Two important points:

• the severity of neuropathy plateaued (nonprogressive)
• there are similar derivative drugs which do not appear to cause neuropathy: lenalidomide adnd pomalidomide
• related blog posts:  When nothing else is working | gutsandgrowth, Desperate measures in refractory IBD

V Collij et al. Inflamm Bowel Dis; 2016; 22: 2562-70. “We identified drugs that target the proteins encoded by IBD candidate genes.” Key finding: There were 113 drugs that could potentially be used in IBD treatment, including 14 known IBD drugs, 48 drugs that are/have been tested for IBD, 19 being tested for other inflammatory diseases, and 32 new investigational medications.

from one of the best days all year on board “Bufflehead”