Treating Steroid-Naive Ulcerative Colits Patients Efficiently

Main Category: GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology
Also Included In: Immune System / Vaccines
Article Date: 22 Sep 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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In the etiology of UC it is believed that an immune abnormality may be involved in its development. Steroids have long been the second line therapy for the induction to remission in UC if remission cannot be achieved by salazosulfapyridine or mesalazine treatment. However, steroid administration can incur various side effects. LCAP has been reported to be effective for steroid-refractory or steroid-dependent patients with UC; however, the data of LCAP for steroid-naïve patients with UC is limited.

A research article published on September 14, 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team led by Dr. Masatoshi Kudo from Kinki University School of Medicine, Japan investigated the therapeutic utility of LCAP for steroid-naïve patients with UC. They also assessed whether the efficacy of LCAP can be predicted on the basis of endoscopic findings.

In 1995, LCAP was introduced for patients with UC. LCAP is a method where the blood is passed though a leukocyte removal filter before being returned to the body. On average, 1.6 x 1010 leukocytes are removed during one session. These leukocytes include granulocytes, lymphocytes and monocytes. Almost 100% of granulocytes and monocytes and 60% of lymphocytes are removed by removal filter. In this study, we found 61.1% of steroid-naive UC patients (11/18) had entered remission eight weeks after the last LCAP session.

Since steroids can induce remission in 45% to 90% of salazosulfapyridine or mesalazine non-responders, it appears that LCAP is as efficacious as steroids as a second-line treatment. Analysis of the endoscopic findings of the patients revealed that while the remission rate of the patients with erosion was extremely high after LCAP; of the patients with geographic ulcers and deep ulcers it was extremely low. None of the patients experienced any severe adverse effects from LCAP. Given the low rate of adverse events suffered by patients treated with LCAP, we propose that patients with moderately active UC should be treated with LCAP before steroids are considered.

In conclusion, LCAP is a useful and safe therapy for steroid-naive UC patients with moderate activity. Moreover, endoscopic findings help to predict the efficacy of this treatment.

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Reference: Umehara Y, Kudo M, Kawasaki M. Endoscopic findings can predict the efficacy of leukocytapheresis for steroid-naive patients with moderately active ulcerative colitis. World J Gastroenterol 2008; 14(34): 5316-5321 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/14/5316.asp

Correspondence to: Masatoshi Kudo, MD, PhD, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine Kinki University School of Medicine, 377-2 Ohno-Higashi, Osaka-Sayama 589-8511, Japan.

About World Journal of Gastroenterology

World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection and provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.

Source: Lin-Lin Xiao
World Journal of Gastroenterology

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