Burden of perianal disease in Crohn's disease: Accelerating medical therapy and high rates of perianal surgery over the last four decades - Results from a population-based study over four decades

Review article: Measuring disease severity in inflammatory bowel disease - Beyond treat to target

BACKGROUND

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) follows a heterogenous disease course and predicting a patient's prognosis is challenging. There is a wide burden of illness in IBD and existing tools measure disease activity at a snapshot in time. Comprehensive assessment of IBD severity should incorporate disease activity, prognosis, and the impacts of disease on a patient. This review investigates the concept of disease severity in adults with IBD to highlight key components contributing to this.

METHODS

To perform this narrative review, a Medline search was conducted for full-text articles available at 1st March 2024 using search terms which encompassed disease activity assessment, disease severity, prognosis, natural history of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), and the burden of IBD.

RESULTS

Current methods of disease assessment in IBD have evolved from a focus on the burden of symptoms to one that includes inflammatory targets, genetic, serological, and proteomic profiles, and assessments of quality-of-life (QoL), disability, and psychosocial health. Longitudinal studies of IBD suggest that the burden of illness is driven by disease phenotype, clinical markers of complicated disease course (previous intestinal resection, corticosteroid use, perianal disease in CD, recent hospitalisations in UC), gut inflammation, and the impact of IBD on the patient.

CONCLUSIONS

Disease severity in IBD can be difficult to conceptualise due to the multitude of factors that contribute to IBD outcomes. Measurement of IBD severity may better encapsulate the full burden of illness rather than gut inflammation alone at a single timepoint and may be associated with longitudinal outcomes.

Perianal Crohn's disease: Still more questions than answers

In this editorial we comment on the article by Pacheco et al published in a recent issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology. We focus specifically on the burden of illness associated with perianal fistulizing Crohn's disease (PFCD) and the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges in the management of this condition. Evolving evidence has shifted the diagnostic framework for PFCD from anatomical classification systems, to one that is more nuanced and patient-focused to drive ongoing decision making. This editorial aims to reflect on these aspects to help clinicians face the challenge of PFCD in day-to-day clinical practice.

[Therapeutic challenges in difficult-to-treat, penetrating Crohn's disease - a multidisciplinary approach]

A rectovaginalis fistula a penetráló Crohn-betegség ritka szövődménye, jelenléte esetén a gyógyszeres kezelés és a sebészeti beavatkozás együttes alkalmazása javasolt. Habár perianalis sipollyal szövődött Crohn-betegség esetén a TNFα-blokkolók hatékonyak lehetnek, rectovaginalis fistula esetén kisebb hatékonyság mutatkozik, feltehetően anatómiai okok, valamint a gyulladás talaján megváltozott szövetekbe történő csökkent penetrációs készség miatt. Az újabb biologikumok és kis molekulájú szerek hatékonyságáról és biztonságosságáról penetráló Crohn-betegségben kevés adat áll rendelkezésünkre. Esetünk egy fiatal penetráló Crohn-beteg nőről szól, aki közepesen súlyos/súlyos betegségaktivitás és kiújuló rectovaginalis fistula miatt több vonalbeli biológiai kezelésben részesült. Ultimum refugiumként deviáló ileostoma képzése történt, illetve upadacitinib indult ötödik terápiás vonalként. 12 hetes indukciót követően a rectovaginalis sipoly teljes bezáródását, valamint a vastagbél teljes szakaszán komplett nyálkahártya-gyógyulást tapasztaltunk. Az ileostoma zárását aktivitásfokozódás vagy fistulakiújulás nem követte. A szelektív JAK1-gátló upadacitinib hatékonynak mutatkozott stomaképzést követően, nehezen kezelhető, közepesen súlyos-súlyos luminalis aktivitást mutató, recidív rectovaginalis fistulával szövődött Crohn-betegségben. Orv Hetil. 2024; 165(32): 1252–1257.

Editorial: The prevalence and outcomes of perianal Crohn's disease across the treatment eras-Authors' reply

This article is linked to Gonczi et al papers. To view these articles, visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.17836 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.17861

Editorial: The prevalence and outcomes of perianal Crohn's disease across treatment eras

This article is linked to Gonczi et al papers. To view these articles, visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.17836 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.17879