IBD Updates

  1. Allopurinol makes thiopurines more effective. A Vasudevan et al. AP&T 2023; https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.17831 Clinical trial: Combination allopurinol-thiopurine versus standard thiopurine in patients with IBD escalating to immunomodulators (the DECIDER study)

This was  a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial to compare the efficacy and safety of thiopurine-allopurinol versus thiopurine with placebo for adults commencing a thiopurine for IBD in 102 patients. Allopurinol was dosed at 100 mg. Key findings:

  • A higher proportion achieved the primary outcome (improved clinical score and fecal calprotectin <150) in the thiopurine-allopurinol group (50% vs 35%, p = 0.14) and fewer participants stopped their allocated therapy due to adverse events (11% vs 29%, p = 0.02

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2. Newer treatments and lower colectomy rates in pediatric UC. D Ley et al. AJG 2023; 118:1997-2004 New Therapeutic Strategies Are Associated With a Significant Decrease in Colectomy Rate in Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis. Thanks to Ben Gold for this reference.

Medication exposure and disease outcomes were compared between 3 diagnostic periods: 1988 to 1993 (period [P] 1; pre-IS era), 1994 to 2000 (P2; pre-anti-TNF era), and 2001 to 2011 (P3; anti-TNF era).

  • Key finding: The risk of colectomy at 5 years decreased significantly over time (P1, 17%; P2, 19%; and P3, 9%; P = 0.045, P-trend = 0.027) and between the pre-anti-TNF era (P1 + P2, 18%) and the anti-TNF era (P3, 9%) (P = 0.013). 

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3. More data indicating that anti-TNF therapy does not increase post-operative complications. D Bajzat et al. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2023; 29: 1971-1980. Safety Analysis of Preoperative Anti-TNF-α Therapy in Pediatric IBD After Intestinal Resection: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

In this systematic review, the authors identified 8 eligible articles with 526 pediatric patients with IBD. Key finding: “There is no significant association between preoperative anti-TNF-α therapy and postoperative complications in children with IBD after intestinal resection.”

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Pics from Island Ford/Chattahoochee River

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Small Pediatric IBD Studies …Briefly Noted

G Wahbeh et al. JPGN 2016; 63: 348-51.  This retrospective case series with 4 children  (aged 12-17 years) indicated that 2 had a ‘clinical response’ to ustekinumab therapy, though one of these had ongoing elevation of CRP.  The dosing may have been too low: 90 mg at week 0 and 4, then every 8 weeks.  My take: This study shows that ustekinumab’s use in pediatric IBD seems to be a ‘shot in the dark’ given the lack of coherent data.

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L Zimmerman et al. JPGN 2016; 63: 352-56. Among a cohort of 123 children who had underwent a bowel resection, from 1977-2011, the overall postoperative complication rate was 13%.  This included 3 of 24 who had prior infliximab and 9 of 99 who had not received infliximab. It is noteworthy that the infliximab group had more corticosteroid exposure. The authors concluded that preoperative infliximab was not associated with increased complications but noted that their sample size was small. My take: Studies of adults with Crohn’s disease have yielded conflicting results on whether preoperative infliximab increases the risk of complications.  This study shows that children likely have a lower rate of postsurgical complications and more pediatric specific data are needed.

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From KT Park’s Twitter Feed:

calprotectin

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