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Introduction : The incidence of endoscopic recurrence (ER) in Crohn's disease following curative resection is up to 75% at 1 year. Endoscopy is the most sensitive method to detect the earliest mucosal changes and the severe ER at 1 year seems to predict a clinical relapse. Methods : The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the incidence of early ER 6 months after curative resection. Secondary outcome was to evaluate the role of 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) in the prevention of ER at 6 months. A total of 170 patients were included in the study. They were carried-out from the evaluation of the appearance of ER during a trial performed to assess the role of azathioprine vs. 5-ASA as early treatment of severe ER. All the patients started 5-ASA treatment 2 weeks after surgery. Results : Six months after surgery ER was observed in 105 patients (62%). The endoscopic score was reported as severe in 78.1% of them (82 out of 105). At univariable analysis only ileo-colonic disease influenced the final outcome associating to a lower risk of severe ER (p = 0.04; OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.277–0.974). Conclusion: In this prospective Italian multicenter IG-IBD study a great proportion of ER occur within 6 months from ileo-colonic resection, with a significant rate of severe ER. Furthermore this study confirms the marginal role of 5-ASA in the prevention of ER. This suggests that post-surgical endoscopic evaluation should be performed at 6 months instead of 1 year to allow an adequate early treatment.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is associated with psychological stress and poor emotional functioning. The neural emotional processing involves the complex integration of several cortical and subcortical brain structures. The amygdala plays a fundamental role in the neural processing of emotional stimuli and is a core structure of the brain-gut axis (BGA) that represents the anatomo-functional substrate for the bidirectional influences between emotions and gastrointestinal functions. The aim of this study was to investigate the brain emotional processing in UC patients compared to healthy people. METHODS: Ten UC patients in remission and 10 matched healthy controls underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan while performing a task involving emotional visual stimuli. A set of negative, positive, and neutral pictures were used to study brain-related emotional responses. RESULTS: A significantly reduced blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal in UC patients relative to controls was found in the amygdala, thalamic regions, and cerebellar areas (P < 0.05 corrected for multiple comparisons). The group-related differences were detected in the brain activity in response to positive emotional stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: UC is associated with an emotional dysfunction characterized by decreased sensitivity to emotions with a positive content. The previous intestinal inflammatory activity in UC patients might have contributed to determine the functional changes of the amygdala that we found. On the other hand, the dysfunction of the amygdala may influence the course of the disease.

About two-thirds of patients with ulcerative colitis have an inflammatory involvement distal to the splenic flexure and therefore may be effectively treated with topical treatment. This allows the delivery of the active drug directly to the site of inflammation, limiting the systemic absorption and the potential side effects. Topical aminosalicylate therapy is the most effective approach, provided that the formulation reaches the upper extent of the disease. Suppositories should be considered the treatment of choice for proctitis and distal sigmoiditis. A 1 g Pentasa-suppository once daily induces a quicker clinical and endoscopic remission and was better tolerated than a 500-mg suppository twice daily. Enemas, foams and gel, thanks to their proximal spread, should be the treatment of choice for proctosigmoiditis and left-sided colitis. Oral aminosalicylates are less effective than topical therapies for patients with active disease; however, a combination of oral and topical aminosalicylates can be successfully tried in refractory patients. Topical aminosalicylates also play an important role in the maintenance of remission, and the combination of oral plus rectal 5-aminosalicylate is superior to the single agent. Patients who prefer not to continue on long-term rectal therapy can be treated with oral aminosalicylates.

In patients with Crohn's disease (CD) stress is believed to increase the incidence of disease relapse. The brain processes stressful stimuli and triggers the stress-evoked responses. Habituation to stress is an adaptive process that allows minimizing these responses. We hypothesized inadequate habituation to stress in CD patients. The aim of this study was to compare the neural habituation between CD patients and controls. Twenty CD patients and eighteen controls underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing two repeated runs of a stress-evoking task. The task elicited different neural activity between the groups across runs in (1) amygdala, hippocampus, (2) insula, putamen (3) cerebellar regions, suggesting altered habituation to stress in patients. These structures regulate the neuroendocrine and autonomic stress-evoked responses that control the proinflammatory responses. The inadequate habituation to stress that we found in patients could play a role in the relationship between stress and inflammatory exacerbations in CD.

Outstanding progress regarding the pathophysiology of Crohn’s disease (CD) has led to the development of innovative therapeutic concepts. Numerous controlled trials have been performed in CD. This review concentrates on the results of randomized, placebo-controlled trials, and meta-analyses when available, that provide the highest degree of evidence. Current guidelines on the management of CD recommend a step-up approach to treatment involving the addition of more powerful therapies as the severity of disease and refractoriness to therapy increase. The advent of biological drugs has opened new therapeutic horizons for treating CD, modifying the treatment goals. However, the large majority of patients with CD will be managed through conventional therapy, even if they are a prelude to biological therapy.

The rationale underlying probiotics use in the treatment of IBD is based on compelling evidence that intestinal bacteria have a role in disease pathogenesis. The distal ileum and the colon are the areas with the highest bacterial concentrations and are also the sites of inflammation in IBD. Similarly, pouchitis, the nonspecific inflammation of the ileal reservoir that can occur after ileo-anal anastomosis, appears to be associated with bacterial overgrowth and dysbiosis. Enteric bacteria and their products have also been found within the inflamed mucosa of patients with Crohn’s disease

Background and aim: Ten to 15% of patients with pouchitis experience refractory or recurrent disease. Anti-TNF agents are effective in both refractory ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Material and methods: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Infliximab (IFX) or Adalimumab (ADA) in inducing remission and improving quality-of-life (QOL) in such patients. From January 2007 to May 2009, 19 consecutive patients with refractory pouchitis were prospectively followed in a single tertiary center Patients with active pouchitis not responding after 1 month of antibiotic treatment (metronidazole 1g/day or ciprofloxacin 1g/day) and 2 months of oral budesonide CIR at 9mg/day, were treated with IFX 5mg/kg at 0,2,6 weeks or ADA 160mg/80mg at weeks 0-2 and then 40 mg every-other-week. Short-term efficacy was evaluated at week 10. Symptomatic, endoscopic and histological evaluations were done before and after treatment using the Pouchitis Disease Activity Index (PDAI) score. Remission was defined as a combination of a clinical PDAI score of 1. QOL was assessed using Inflammatory Bowel and endoscopic PDAI score Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ). Results: Twelve patients (7 males, 5 females, median age 32.6 years) received IFX, 7 (5 males, 2 females, median age 36.4 years) were treated with ADA; 2 of the patients treated with ADA were secondary failure to IFX. Nine of 12 (75%) and 5 of 7 (71.4%) showed remission respectively in the IFX and ADA group. The median PDAI scores before and after therapy were 13 (range 8-18) and 2 (range 0-9) in IFX group (p

Background: Chronic refractory pouchitis (CRP) is a long-term complication after ileal-pouch-anal-anastomosis (IPAA) and it my be associated with ileal inflammation. Aim: to determinate the efficacy of infliximab in treatment of CRP complicated by ileitis, using a wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE). Methods: 16 patients with CRP complicated by ileitis were enrolled. Pouchitis was diagnosed by clinical, endoscopic and histological criteria. Ileitis was documented using WCE. Duodenum-jejunum and proximal-middle ileum were evaluated and the presence of small lesions and large lesions were noted. Crohn’s disease, intestinal infections were excluded in all patients. Patients are treated with infliximab and clinical response was recorded. WCE was repeated at week 10 and PDAI score was determined. Results: 10 patients were enrolled and completed the study. Clinical remission was achieved in 9 patients. At WCE and pouch endoscopy a complete recovery of lesions was observed in 8 patients. One patient presented 4 small lesions of the ileum at the 6-week of treatment and 1 patient did not show any modification. Clinical and endoscopic remission was maintained in these 8 patients at least 6 months. Conclusions: these preliminary results indicate that infliximab may be recommended for the treatment of CRP complicated by ileitis.

Ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) is the surgical procedure of choice for patients with ulcerative colitis undergoing elective restorative proctolectomy. It preserves intestinal continuity and sphincter function and removes the entire colorectal mucosa. The most frequently observed long-term complication of IPAA is acute and/or chronic inflammation of the ileal reservoir, called pouchitis.

Pouchitis is the major long-term complication after ileal-pouch anal anastomosis for ulcerative colitis. Broad-spectrum antibiotics are the mainstay of treatment in this condition. Recently, we have shown the efficacy of a highly concentrated probiotic preparation (VSL#3, 900 billions/sachet lyophilized viable bacteria) in preventing relapses of chronic pouchitis and in preventing pouchitis onset. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of high-dose VSL#3 in the treatment of mildly active pouchitis. Twenty-three consecutive patients with mild pouchitis, defined as a score of between 7 and 12 in the Pouchitis Disease Activity Index, which includes clinical, endoscopic, and histological criteria, were treated with VSL#3, 2 sachets b.i.d. (3600 billion bacteria/day) for four weeks. Symptomatic, endoscopic, and histologic evaluations were undertaken before and after treatment according to Pouchitis Disease Activity Index. Remission was defined as a combination of a Pouchitis Disease Activity Index clinical score of ≤2, endoscopic score of ≤1, and total Pouchitis Disease Activity Index score of ≤4. Patients in remission after treatment were treated with VSL#3, 1 sachet b.i.d. (1800 billion bacteria), as maintenance treatment for six months. The quality of life was assessed with the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire. Sixteen of 23 patients (69 percent) were in remission after treatment. The median total Pouchitis Disease Activity Index scores before and after therapy were 10 (range, 9–12) and 4 (range, 2–11), respectively (P

Many experimental and clinical observations suggest a potential role for intestinal microflora in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Manipulation of the luminal content using antibiotics may therefore represent a potentially effective therapeutic option. However, the available studies do not support the use of antimicrobials in ulcerative colitis and larger studies are required. These drugs are however effective in treating septic complications of Crohn’s disease (CD). The use of antibacterial agents as primary therapy for CD is more controversial, although this approach is frequently and successfully adopted in clinical practice. Despite the fact that properly controlled trials have been not carried out, antimicrobials are the mainstay of the treatment of pouchitis. Rifaximin is a poorly absorbed, broad-spectrum antibiotic that, thanks to its efficacy and long-term safety, could represent the preferred tool of manipulating enteric flora in patients with IBD. Preliminary data suggest that rifaximin may be beneficial in the treatment of active ulcerative colitis (and pouchitis), mild to moderate CD as well as prevention of post-operative recurrence of CD.

ETHIOPATHOGENESIS AND TREATMENT OF POUCHITIS IN PATIENTS SUBMITTED TO RESTORATIVE PROCTOCOLECTOMY AND ILEAL POUCH -ANAL ANASTOMOSIS FOR ULCERATIVE AND INDETERMINATE COLITIS