Reviews on Recent Clinical Trials - Volume 7, Issue 4, 2012

The Authors review and critically discuss the most recent published evidence on treatment of mild-moderate ulcerative colitis both in the induction and maintenance of remission. Evidence on each drug is introduced by the related statement of ECCO guidelines. A brief introduction on disease classification and the need of standardizing indexes of clinical and endoscopic activity is also provided. Concluding remarks stress the he Read More

Maintenance of medically induced remission is a clinical challenge in Crohn's disease (CD), since it is a chronic disease and that often occurs in young people. The introduction of immunosuppressors and biologics has significantly improved the management of these patients, however efficacy and safety of these treatments in the very long term still needs clarification. Furthermore, scientific research is driven more into Read More

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard method for developing evidence-based medicine in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methodological problems in RCTs in IBD concern different aspects such as the definition of the study population due to the extreme variability of patients with IBD, the indices of disease activity, a clearly defined outcome, the environmental risk factors (i.e smoking behaviour) that Read More

Many trials focused on the treatment of active luminal Crohn's disease (CD) have been published in literature. A critical reevaluation of the main trials regarding the use of 5-ASA derivates has shown a not significant benefit of such molecules in treating CD and, as a consequence, the European Crohn's and Colitis Organization's (ECCO) therapeutic statements highlight that 5-ASA should be considered clinically no more Read More

Crohn's disease can be complicated by the development of fistulas, 54% of which involve the perianal region. The presence of perianal fistulas predicts a disabling course of Crohn's disease. The treatment of complex perianal disease is difficult and the chance of complete fistula healing is no more than 50%. The best management of this condition is a combining medical and surgical therapy. Studies which evaluated the effi Read More

Pouchitis is the most common complication of Proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). The diagnosis of pouchitis requires the presence of symptoms, together with characteristic endoscopic and histological abnormalities. The exact cause of pouchitis is not known. Whereas ‘acute’ pouchitis can be treated rapidly and successfully in the majority of patients, “refractory” and ‘ Read More

Most patients with Crohn's disease will require surgery during the course of their disease. However, surgery is not curative and post-operative recurrence is quite inexorable. One year after resection up to 80% of patients have new lesions at the neo-terminal ileum and after 10 years approximately 50% of patients will experience recurrence of symptoms and 35% will need further surgery. Prevention of post-operative Read More

Intravenous steroids are considered the mainstay of treatment in patients with severe ulcerative colitis. Several randomized controlled trials have been designed to evaluate drugs that, as an adjunct to intravenous steroids, could obtain a clinical response and avoid colectomy in patients who do not respond to corticosteroids. For steroid refractory patients, cyclosporine and infliximab seem to be an effective alternative to cole Read More

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of ozone therapy in the treatment of 50 patients with peripheral vestibulocochlear syndrome. Ozone was injected in the cervical region C2-C3, for 20 sessions. Evaluation criteria was based in the evolution of nystagmus, tinnitus, hearing loss and vertigo. Also, oxidative stress parameters were measured. Results demonstrated that patient improvements, according to vertigo, h Read More

This paper addresses a clinical hypothesis detected by the method of range regression, a new statistical method portraying the clinical response via the range of an explanatory variable. For patients with iliofemoral deep venous thrombosis, it has long been clinically suspected that residual thrombus affects the quality of life after catheter-directed thrombolysis. However, such important medical experience has not been vali Read More