A fulminant colitis index greater or equal to 8 is not predictive of colectomy risk in infliximab-treated moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis attacks.

Introduction: In severe attacks of ulcerative colitis (UC) treated with intravenous corticosteroids, a fulminant colitis index (FCI) greater or equal to 8 has been associated with a greater likelihood of colectomy (72 vs 16% with an FCI<8). This retrospective study aimed to assess the accuracy of such an association in infliximab-treated patients with moderate-to-severe bouts of UC.

Patients And Methods: The study was based on the medical files of 43 patients who had received at least one infusion of infliximab to treat moderate-to-severe UC (partial Mayo Clinic score).

Enteral nutrition in adult Crohn's disease: present status and perspectives.

Enteral nutrition has long been a therapeutic alternative often used in adult Crohn's disease patients to obtain remission or clinical response, especially in those not responding to conventional therapy such as corticosteroids. However, the increasing use of immunosuppressors (6-mercaptopurine and azathioprine, methotrexate, etc.), and the advent of biotherapies (especially anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) antibodies), decreased its use in adult Crohn's disease.

Severe ulcerative colitis: present medical treatment strategies.

A total of 15-19% of ulcerative colitis patients have a severe attack at some time during their illness. As a consequence of its high associated mortality and morbidity rates, a close collaboration between gastroenterologists and surgeons in their management is mandatory, in order to define, as best as possible, the timing of surgery (i.e.

Anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) treatment strategies in Crohn's disease.

Crohn's disease is a complex multifactorial disorder characterized by the alternation of a cytokine-driven T-lymphocyte-depending inflammation of the intestinal mucosa, and "off" periods, where patients are completely asymptomatic. Although all the causative factors have not been clearly identified, the continuously growing understanding of the major abnormalities of the inflammatory and immune response leading to the often debilitating symptoms reported by Crohn's disease patients, improves our capacity to characterize new potential therapeutic targets with the subsequent hope to discover new (more efficient and less toxic) drugs. Saying that, in the recent years, tumor necrosis factor-alpha undoubtedly emerges as a key cytokine involved in Crohn's disease pathogenesis, and constant efforts have been made to control tumor necrosis factor-alpha deleterious effects in Crohn's disease.

[Nutritional therapy in inflammatory bowel disease].

Protein-energy malnutrition and specific nutrient deficiencies are common in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), more particularly in Crohn's disease. In adults, the use of artificial nutrition is indicated in the event of malnutrition, short bowel syndrome, or IBD refractory to all other treatments. In children, enteral nutrition has a place as first-line treatment to avoid side effects of corticosteroids on growth.