Inflammatory bowel diseases
-
Inflamm. Bowel Dis. · Jul 2016
ReviewThe Next Wave of Biological Agents for the Treatment of IBD: Evidence from Cochrane Reviews.
Multiple new biological treatments for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are becoming available. Specifically, vedolizumab and ustekinumab are monoclonal antibodies that target molecular pathways relevant to disease pathogenesis. What can Cochrane reviews tell us about the efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity of these new agents? A Cochrane inflammatory bowel disease group symposium held at the 2015 Digestive Diseases Week annual meeting addressed these questions. This article reviews the data presented at that session.
-
Inflamm. Bowel Dis. · Jul 2016
ReviewEpidemiology, Diagnosis, and Management of Clostridium difficile Infection in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a major source of morbidity and mortality for the U. S. health care system and frequently complicates the course of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Patients with IBD are more likely to be colonized with C. difficile and develop active infection than the general population. ⋯ Fecal microbiota transplantation can be successful in curing recurrent CDI when other treatments have failed, but may also trigger IBD flare and this warrants caution. New experimental treatments including vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and nontoxigenic strains of C. difficile offer promise but are not yet available for clinicians. A better understanding of the complex relationship between the gut microbiota, CDI, and IBD is needed.