Efficacy of tofacitinib as a «rescue therapy» in patients with severe ulcerative colitis

Abstract

AIM: to evaluate the effectiveness of tofacitinib as a second line treatment.PATIENTS AND METHODS: the study included 12 patients, 4 (33.34%) males and 8 (66.66%) females. The median age was 41 ± 5 years. All patients admitted to the hospital with a severe flare-up of ulcerative colitis, which was the inclusion criterion in this study. Clinical manifestations, laboratory parameters, and colonoscopy were done at the time of administration of tofacitinib, on days 3 and 7, and after 12 weeks.RESULTS: a fast clinical response on 3 day of treatment, reduction in stool frequency, decrease blood in stool was noted in 10 (83.3%) patients. After 7 days from the start of TFCS therapy, all patients showed a decrease from severe activity to mild activity, as well as a decrease in inflammatory blood markers and hemoglobin levels. During the follow-up for 12 weeks, 100% of patients showed positive clinical and laboratory changes. In 10 (83.4%) patients, remission or maintenance of negligible minimal activity was noted.CONCLUSION: the results obtained show that the use of TFTB in hormone-resistant patients can be effective as a second line of “rescue therapy”.