According to a recent study by the Mayo Clinic, administration of infliximab (Remicade) alone or in a combination with azathioprine may prove to be the most effective form of treatment than azathioprine alone for curing moderate to severe Crohn’s disease in patients.

Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory ailment of the human gastrointestinal tract that is believed to affect as much as 500,000 people in the United States alone. No definite cure has yet been discovered for this ailment.

In the past, patients suffering from this disease have been treated sequentially with some form of steroids followed by azathioprine and thereafter by monoclonal anti-bodies like infliximab.

However, infliximab-based medical strategies to cure Crohn’s disease are far more effective than treatment with azathioprine as per William Sandborn, M.D., the lead author and a gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic.

From News-Medical.Net:

The study, conducted at more than 200 sites, included 508 patients who have moderate to severe Crohn’s disease. Researchers found that 57 percent of patients who received combination therapy with infliximab and azathioprine achieved steroid-free remission after 26 weeks. This is compared to 44 percent of patients who achieved remission with infliximab monotherapy and 30 percent with azathioprine alone. Both the infliximab combination therapy and infliximab monotherapy groups were statistically superior to the azathioprine group. In addition, 61 percent of patients who received the combination therapy of infliximab and azathioprine also experienced healing of the bowel demonstrated by colonoscopy (mucosal healing). This is important because previous studies have suggested that patients who have mucosal healing are less likely to require hospitalization and surgery.

“Our goal with this study was to determine if infliximab-based treatment strategies were safe and more effective than treatment with azathioprine in these patients,” says Dr. Sandborn. “For patients, this new therapy is an opportunity for remission and a significant improvement in quality of life.”

This study is expected to create a new paradigm besides offering new, safer opportunities to patients suffering from Crohn’s disease when it comes to improving quality of life.

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Tags: azathioprine, Crohn's disease, inflammatory ailment, infliximab, remicade, steroids

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