Crohns Disease Causes » Mesalamine http://crohnsdiseasecauses.com Help, Cures and Support for Crohns Disease Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:07:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 Fistulizing Crohns Disease http://crohnsdiseasecauses.com/fistulizing-crohns-disease/ http://crohnsdiseasecauses.com/fistulizing-crohns-disease/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:37:42 +0000 Dr Joe Stevenson http://crohnsdiseasecauses.com/?p=128 Fistulas are common in Crohns disease. A population-based study has shown a cumulative risk of 33% after 10 years and 50% after 20 years. Perianal fistulas were the most common (54%). Medical therapy is the main option for perianal fistula once abscesses, if present, have been drained, and should include antibiotics (both ciprofloxacin and metronidazole) and immunomodulators.

Infliximab should be reserved for refractory patients. Surgery is often necessary for internal fistulas. The appropriate treatment of patients with fistulas in the setting of Crohns disease requires a knowledge of the specific medical and surgical literature of fistulizing Crohn’s. The patient with symptomatic fistulizing Crohns disease may respond differently to specific medical therapy than a patient with symptomatic obstructing Crohns disease.

Certain medications that are useful for the treatment of patients with obstructive Crohns disease may not be helpful in the treatment of fistulas in patients with fistulizing Crohns disease (e.g., corticosteroids and mesalamine); in fact, some medications are believed to be detrimental (e.g., corticosteroids). Few studies have been performed to assess the efficacy of specific medications on fistulas directly.

To date, there has been only one published prospective randomized controlled trial that was designed to assess the efficacy and safety of a specific medication on fistulas in patients with Crohns disease; it showed clinical efficacy over placebo in a statistically significant manner. The judicious use of surgery remains an integral part of the management of certain presentations of fistulizing Crohns disease, and the appropriate integration of surgical and medical therapy is of paramount importance in the management of these patients.

This review provides an overview of pertinent medical and surgical literature as it pertains to management of patients with fistulizing Crohns disease. Remicade was also shown to be effective in reducing the number of open, draining fistulas, a painful complication of Crohns disease in which deep openings burrow from the bowel wall through the surface of the skin, causing drainage of mucous and/or fecal material. Remicade is the first product documented to reduce the number of open fistulas in a controlled clinical trial.

In a clinical study of 94 patients with fistulizing Crohns disease (42 patients had single fistula and 52 patients had multiple fistulas), 68 percent of those treated at the recommended dose of Remicade experienced closure of at least 50 percent of fistula(s) for four weeks or more compared with 26 percent of placebo-treated patients. More than one-half (55 percent) of patients with single or multiple fistula(s) treated with Remicade experienced a clinical effect demonstrated clinical response to treatment with Remicade developed an abscess in the area of the fistula between eight and 16 weeks after the last infusion.

“Remicade represents a significant advance in the treatment of Crohns disease,” said Stephen Hanauer, M.D., University of Chicago Medical Center, department of gastroenterology, and a principal investigator in the clinical trials. “These patients suffer terribly and we physicians now have an important option available to treat them.”

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]]> http://crohnsdiseasecauses.com/fistulizing-crohns-disease/feed/ 0 Crohns Disease Probiotics http://crohnsdiseasecauses.com/crohns-disease-probiotics/ http://crohnsdiseasecauses.com/crohns-disease-probiotics/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:17:20 +0000 Dr Joe Stevenson http://crohnsdiseasecauses.com/?p=96 Probiotics in the Treatment of Crohn’s Disease
Alterations in the bacterial milieu of the gut are common in Crohns disease. The use of various probiotic bacteria to promote a balance of appropriate intestinal flora has yielded mixed results. Mechanisms associated with the beneficial effects of probiotic therapy in Crohn’s Disease include:

(1) inhibition of pathogenic bacteria via growth suppression or epithelial binding
(2)  improved epithelial and mucosal barrier function; and
(3) altered immuno-regulation via stimulation of secretory IgA or reduction in TNF-alpha.

Saccharomyces boulardii
Plein et al demonstrated the efficacy of Saccharomyces boulardii (Sb) in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 20 Crohn’s Disease patients. Patients were given 250 mg Sb three times daily for 10 weeks and evaluated via bowel movement frequency and the CDAI index. Patients receiving Sb experienced a significant reduction in frequency of bowel movements (from 5.0 to 3.3 per day) and CDAI index (193 to 107) by week 10 of treatment.

Another study utilizing Saccharomyces boulardii therapy in 32 Crohn’s Disease patients demonstrated a significant benefit of a combination of Saccharomyces boulardii and mesalamine compared to mesalamine alone. Relapse in the mesalamine-only group was 37.5 percent at six months compared to only 6.25 percent in the mesalamine-plus Saccharomyces boulardii group.

E. coli (Nissle strain)
Pathogenic E. coli that adhere to and invade intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) have been isolated from ileal lesions of Crohns patients. Boudeau et al demonstrated the in vitro ability of a non-pathogenic E. coli strain (Nissle 1917) to prevent pathogenic E. coli strains from adhering to and invading IEC. When IEC were co-infected with probiotic Nissle strain and pathogenic E. coli, the Nissle strain exhibited a dose- and time-dependent adhesion to IEC, which prevented adhesion of various pathogenic E. coli strains by 78.0- 99.9 percent.

When IEC were pre-incubated with Nissle strain E. coli and pathogenic strains were added later, adhesion and invasion of pathogenic strains was inhibited by 97.2-99.9 percent. Malchow et al conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial investigating the efficacy of E. coli Nissle strain 1917 for inducing and maintaining remission in 28 patients with colonic Crohns disease.

Patients were randomized to either 60 mg prednisolone daily (with a standard tapering schedule) plus twice daily doses of 2.5 x1010 probiotic Nissle strain E. coli (treatment group) or identical prednisolone therapy plus placebo (placebo group). The rate at which remission was achieved was comparable in both groups (85.7% for treatment patients versus 91.7% for placebo patients), but only 33.3 percent of patients in the E. coli treatment group relapsed at one year, compared to 63.6 percent in the placebo group.

Lactobacillus GG
Malin et al investigated the effect of oral Lactobacillus GG on the intestinal immunological barrier in a small study of 14 children with CD and seven control patients (hospitalized for investigation of abdominal pain but with no evidence of intestinal disease). Lactobacillus GG was administered to patients and controls at 1010 colony forming units mixed in liquid twice daily. Lactobacillus GG therapy significantly increased the IgA immune response in Crohns patients compared to controls, resulting in an improved mucosal barrier.

Another study of Lactobacillus GG demonstrated that administration in children with mildto- moderate stable Crohn’s Disease improved gut barrier function and clinical status after six months of therapy.228 However, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 45 post-surgery Crohns patients given Lactobacillus GG for one year did not show it to be more effective than placebo in preventing disease recurrence.229

]]> http://crohnsdiseasecauses.com/crohns-disease-probiotics/feed/ 0 Crohns Disease Medication http://crohnsdiseasecauses.com/crohns-disease-medication/ http://crohnsdiseasecauses.com/crohns-disease-medication/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:19:36 +0000 Dr Joe Stevenson http://crohnsdiseasecauses.com/?p=89 Treatment for Crohns disease depends on its location and severity, the presence of complications and the patient’s response to medications. The goal of treatment is to reduce the inflammation that triggers symptoms. Treatment relieves symptoms and results in long-term remission.

Treatment for Crohns disease usually involves medication and/or surgery.Drug therapies must be custom-designed for each patient. Finding which medications best alleviate the symptoms may take time. When a patient with Crohns disease undergoes surgery, it is important that the health care team (including the surgeon, anesthesiologist, and the primary treating physician) know which medications the patient is taking. Many patients with mild to moderate disease are treated with medications containing mesalamine.

These medications differ based on what parts of the bowel are treated. The use of mesalamine to treat Crohns disease, either to achieve or maintain remission, is sometimes controversial because not all studies have consistently shown that mesalamine is effective for Crohns disease. Mesalamine is usually well-tolerated and has no serious side effects. Patients may experience nausea, headache and diarrhea.

Some patients who have severe active disease or do not respond to mesalamine therapy may need corticosteroids such as prednisone to control inflammation and induce remission. These drugs are effective but have significant side effects, such as increased susceptibility to infection, mood swings, anxiety, depression, elevated blood pressure, glaucoma, cataracts and osteoporosis.

Physicians may use different strategies to administer these drugs in order to reduce side effects. Budesonide is a corticosteroid that is rapidly broken down by the liver, resulting in a much lower frequency of side effects. These medications are gradually reduced once remission is achieved — and mesalamine or a drug that suppresses the immune system is used to maintain remission.Antibiotics such as metronidazole are sometimes used to treat Crohns disease.

They are particularly helpful in patients with fistulas and are often combined with other medications. The use of metronidazole to treat active Crohns disease or to delay the recurrence of Crohn’s for the first two to three years after an ileum resection surgery is often controversial because not all studies have consistently shown that metronidazole and other antibiotics are effective in these patient groups.

Metronidazole can be effective in managing perineal Crohns disease (involving the pelvic area). Many patients require surgery because medical therapy does not control their symptoms or because complications such as blockage, abscess, perforation or bleeding into the intestines have developed

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