Preliminary Experience of Infliximab Treatment in Crohn's disease

Abstract

This is a preliminary study of resistant Crohn's disease treated with infliximab (Remicade), a monoclonal antibody to Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF). The aim of the study was to determine the efficacy of infliximab in patients with moderate to severe active Crohn's disease. The prospective open label observational study was conducted in the department of Medicine and Gastro Al Hammadi Hospital Riyadh Saudi Arabia from Decmber 2000 to December 2001. Ten patients with confirmed Croh's disease of the bowel who had less than satisfactory response to conventional treatemnt were given infliximab. Amongst the 10 patients 6 had luminal croh's disease (60%) and 4 had fistulizing crohn's disease (40%). Three patient had an assocaited extra intestinal manifestation of the disease, two having arthritis and an another had erythemia nodosum. Infliximab treatment is associated with remarkable clinical improvement in patients of crohn's disease with minimal adverse effects but further assessment of its long term efficacy and safety needs to be determined.