Background Proactive therapeutic drug monitoring (pTDM) may improve treatment outcomes in inflammatory bowel disease. Aims and methods We compared 135 patients following a prospective pTDM protocol aiming at an infliximab trough level (IFXTL) between 5 and 10 μg/ml with sequential measurements of Fc, with 108 patients from a retrospective group under conventional management. We evaluated the rates of Fc remission (<250 μg/g) and other clinical outcomes at 2-year of follow-up. Results pTDM associated with higher rates of Fc remission (69.6% vs. 50.0%; P = 0.002), and steroid-free clinical remission (78.4% vs. 55.2%, P = 0.028) with a trend for clinical remission (79.3% vs. 68.5%, P = 0.075). There was no difference in treatment discontinuation (P = 0.195), hospitalization (P = 0.156), and surgery (P = 0.110). Higher IFXTL associated with Fc remission at week 14 (6.59 vs. 2.96 μg/ml, P < 0.001), and at the end of follow-up (8.10 vs. 5.03 μg/ml, P = 0.001). In patients reaching Fc remission after week 14, IFXTL increased from week 14 to the end of follow-up (2.71 vs. 8.54 μg/ml, P < 0.001). Fc remission associated with higher rates of clinical (85.8% vs. 56.8% P < 0.001) and steroid-free clinical remission (86.9% vs. 50.0% P < 0.001), lower IFX discontinuation (8.8% vs. 36.8%, P < 0.001), and hospitalization (13.5% vs. 33.7%, P < 0.001), without significance for surgery (6.1% vs. 12.6%, P = 0.101). Conclusion pTDM was more effective than conventional management in inducing Fc remission which was associated with improved outcomes.
Introduction: Evidence supporting transmural remission (TR) as a long-term treatment target in Crohn's disease (CD) is still unavailable. Less stringent but more reachable targets such as isolated endoscopic (IER) or radiologic remission (IRR) may also be acceptable options in the long-term. Methods: Multicenter retrospective study including 404 CD patients evaluated by magnetic resonance enterography and colonoscopy. Five-year rates of hospitalization, surgery, use of steroids, and treatment escalation were compared between patients with TR, IER, IRR, and no remission (NR). Results: 20.8% of CD patients presented TR, 23.3% IER, 13.6% IRR and 42.3% NR. TR was associated with lower risk of hospitalization (odds-ratio [OR] 0.244 [0.111-0.538], p < 0.001), surgery (OR 0.132 [0.030-0.585], p = 0.008), steroid use (OR 0.283 [0.159-0.505], p < 0.001), and treatment escalation (OR 0.088 [0.044-0.176],This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
In this review, we would like to focus on risk stratification and quality indicators of diagnostic upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in the detection and characterization of early gastric cancer. Preparation of the upper gastrointestinal tract with mucolytic agents or simethicone is often overlooked in the west, and this inexpensive step prior to endoscopy can greatly improve the quality of imaging of the upper digestive tract. Risk stratification based on epidemiological features including family history, Helicobacter pylori infection status, and tobacco smoking is often overlooked but may be useful to identify a subgroup of patients at higher risk of developing gastric cancer. Quality indicators of diagnostic upper gastrointestinal endoscopy are now well defined and include: minimal inspection time of 3 min, adequate photographic documentation of upper gastrointestinal landmarks, utilization of advanced endoscopic imaging technology including narrow band imaging and blue laser imaging to detect intestinal metaplasia and characterize early gastric cancer; and standardized biopsy protocols allow for histological evaluation of gastric mucosa and detection of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia. Finally, endoscopic and histologic classifications such as the Kimura–Takemoto Classification of atrophic gastritis and the OLGA–OLGIM classifications may help stratify patients at a higher risk of developing early gastric cancer.
Background Available evidence suggests that vedolizumab may be as effective as Infliximab (IFX) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. However, it is unknown if proactive therapeutic drug monitoring may improve these results. Methods Retrospective study including consecutive patients under conventional management with IFX (n=108), vedolizumab (n=80) and proactive IFX (n=139) aiming at a trough level (IFXTL) between 5–10 µg/mL. We evaluated the rates of fecal calprotectin remission (<250 µg/g) at week 14 and 2 years, and clinical remission, treatment discontinuation, hospitalization, and surgery at 2 years. Primary non-responders were excluded. Results Proactive IFX was superior to vedolizumab in respect to Fc remission at week 14 (56.8% vs 34.2%; P=0.001) and at 2-years (74.8% vs 35.9%, P<0.001), clinical remission (79.9% vs 58.0%, P=0.001), and treatment discontinuation (24.5% vs 39.5%, P=0.015), without significance for other outcomes. These results remained significant after correcting for prior anti-TNF use (P=0.027, P<0.001, P=0.01, and P=0.03). Conventional IFX was superior to vedolizumab in respect to Fc remission at 2-years (51.9% vs 35.9%, P=0.022), and treatment discontinuation (15.7% vs 39.5%, P<0.001), without significance for other outcomes. However, these results were not significant after correcting for prior anti-TNF use (P=0.367 and P=0.065). Conclusion Our findings suggest that vedolizumab is as effective as conventional IFX. However, proactive IFX was superior to vedolizumab in most clinical outcomes.
Background Background: Increasing evidence supports the use of Ustekinumab (USTK) in patients with moderate to severe Crohn’s disease (CD) and Ulcerative colitis (UC). Comparison of USTK against other biologics is still lacking. Methods AIMS: to perform a propensity score analysis (PSA) for comparison of USTK against conventional Infliximab (IFX), proactive IFX and vedolizumab in CD and UC Methods retrospective study including patients under Ustekinumab (n=71), Vedolizumab (n=98), conventional IFX (n=70) and proactive IFX (n=148). PSA correcting for age, gender, IBD subtype, previous biologic exposure was performed for each comparison. We compared the rates of fecal calprotectin (Fc) remission (<150 µg/g), treatment discontinuation, hospitalization, and surgery at 52 weeks of treatment. Primary non-responders were excluded. Results Results: after PSP, ustekinumab showed lower rates of treatment discontinuation compared to vedolizumab (7.4% vs 37%, P< 0.001) with a trend for higher rates of Fc remission (42.6% vs 25.9%, P=0.104). Ustekinumab showed higher rates of Fc remission compared to conventional IFX (53.8% vs 19.2%, P= 0.020) with a trend for lower rates of hospitalization (7.7% vs 30.8%, P= 0.075). There were no differences between ustekinumab and proactive IFX in any of the clinical outcomes. Conclusion Conclusion: taking into account the potential limitations of PSP, our results suggest that ustekinumab may be as effective as proactive IFX with some benefits compared to vedolizumab and conventional IFX.
Background Anti-TNF agents are used to treat a variety of autoimmune conditions, including psoriasis. Paradoxically, new onset of psoriasis or psoriasiform skin lesions (PPSL) can occur in patients treated with these agents. We report a case series of patients featuring PPSL induced by infliximab (IFX) with pharmacokinetic and fecal calprotectin (Fc) correlation. Methods One hundred and thirty-five consecutive patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease under proactive therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) with IFX were evaluated for PPSL. Results Fifteen patients (11.1%) developed PPSL, 12 females (80%), with median age at diagnosis of 52.0 years (38-63). At the onset of PPSL, 6 patients were on 10 mg/kg every 6 weeks, 5 patients on 5 mg/kg every 8 weeks, 2 patients on 10 mg/kg every 4 weeks, 1 patient on 10 mg/kg every 8 weeks, and 1 patent on 5 mg/kg every 6 weeks. In patients with PPSL, IFX trough levels (IFXTL) significantly increased before and after the advent of PPSL: 6.18 µg/mL (3.28-9.91) vs 9.20 µg/mL (5.89-13.91), P= 0.001. At the time of PPSL, all but 2 patients were in Fc remission (< 250 µg/g), median 41 µg/g (30-103). Seven patients improved with topic therapy and 8 patients (53.3%) discontinued IFX (3 switched to ustekinumab) all of which improved. Compared with the overall cohort, IFXTL were higher in patients with PPSL: 7.27 µg/mL (4.02-10.86) vs 6.26 µg/mL (3.37-9.14), P= 0.023. In multivariate regression analysis, female gender [OR 4.84 95%CI (1.23-19.00), P= 0.024], and any IFXTL≥ 10 µg/mL [OR 5.66 95%CI (1.40-22.87), P= 0.015] were independent predictors of developing PPSL. Conclusion Most patients with PPSL presented high IFXTL and low Fc. We hypothesize that high concentrations of IFX in the setting of deep remission may signal aberrant pro-inflammatory pathways potentially responsible for PPSL.
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