Commentaries
Balancing the risks and benefits of prolonged use of infliximab
Correspondence to:
Dr Profesor Jürgen Schölmerich, Department of Internal Medicine I, University Regensburg, D-93042 Regensburg, Germany; juergen.schoelmerich@klinik.uni-r.de
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
In this issue of Gut, two papers describe the vast experience of the group in Leuven, Belgium, with the use of infliximab in Crohn’s disease. The first report (see page 492) describes 614 patients, mostly with luminal disease and about 25% with fistulising disease treated over a period of 12 years. A sustained benefit was seen in 63%; in a third even after stopping the drug while in remission.1 Twenty percent of patients withdrew from treatment due to loss of response and 11% had no initial response. Of those patients with an initially elevated C-reactive protein (CRP), 77% showed a "biological response", which had a positive predictive value for a better clinical outcome. Out of 10 deaths, one was directly related to therapy, three were possibly rèlated and six were not related.
The second report (see page 501) assessed medical records of 734 patients with
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Relevant Articles
- Long-term outcome of treatment with infliximab in 614 patients with Crohn’s disease: results from a single-centre cohort
- F Schnitzler, H Fidder, M Ferrante, M Noman, I Arijs, G Van Assche, I Hoffman, K Van Steen, S Vermeire, and P Rutgeerts
Gut 2009 58: 492-500.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- Long-term safety of infliximab for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease: a single-centre cohort study
- H Fidder, F Schnitzler, M Ferrante, M Noman, K Katsanos, S Segaert, L Henckaerts, G Van Assche, S Vermeire, and P Rutgeerts
Gut 2009 58: 501-508.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Biancone, L, Petruzziello, C, Calabrese, E, Zorzi, F, Naccarato, P, Onali, S, Pallone, F
(2009). Long-term safety of Infliximab for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease: does blocking TNF{alpha} reduce colitis-associated colorectal carcinogenesis?. Gut
58: 1703-1703
[Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- web only appendix
- web only appendix
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
