Crohn's Disease

Healio recently spoke with an expert about a mnemonic device that can assist in comanaging enterocutaneous fistulas in Crohn’s disease. This was the top story in gastroenterology last week.

ORLANDO — Adding genetic testing to the management of patients with inflammatory bowel disease may present an opportunity to determine which patients are at greater risk for loss of response and help select the best therapies for each individual patient, according to an expert.

ORLANDO — Management of enterocutaneous fistulas in Crohn’s disease does not always get the attention it needs, according to Anita Afzali, MD, MPH, FACG, of the division of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

ORLANDO — Whether reactive or proactive, therapeutic drug monitoring has become an important part of inflammatory bowel disease care, according to experts.

ORLANDO — Inflammatory bowel disease is a life-altering condition that takes a lifetime of care. Adding it to another life-altering disease, like cancer, makes management decisions much more complicated for physicians, according to experts.

ORLANDO — Surgeons have become an important part of an inflammatory bowel disease care team. While there were only a handful of surgeons who participated in meetings with patients, Feza H. Remzi, MD, of NYU Langone School of Medicine, said it is now much more common.

ORLANDO — Surgery is big step in the management of Crohn’s disease, but it is not the last step. In many patients the disease will persist, and their physicians must develop a plan to identify and address any issues that arise.

ORLANDO — As patients with Crohn’s disease seek guidance on how to handle their condition, there remains a knowledge gap regarding what, if any, specific dietary recommendations could become a mainstay therapy, according to a presentation at Advances in Inflammatory Bowel Disease 2019.

The FDA has approved the fourth biosimilar to infliximab, infliximab-axxq, for all eligible indications of the biologic product.

The results of a new metanalysis that compared low-volume, split-dose bowel preparations and high-volume preparations was the top story in gastroenterology last week, followed by the findings of a new study that examined how well peroral endoscopic myotomy performed in patients with achalasia.