A70 SEVERE ENTERITIS AND IGA VASCULITIS IN A PEDIATRIC PATIENT WITH ULCERATIVE COLITIS ON VEDOLIZUMAB

Background

Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is often unsatisfactorily controlled using ‘conventional’ therapies, thus there has been increasing use of biologic therapies and small molecules to try and improve rates of clinical remission and mucosal healing. Consequently, pediatric gastroenterologists and generalists should be aware of the complications and side effects of these newer molecules. Vedolizumab (VDZ) is a fully humanised anti-integrin therapy that is thought to limit systemic side effects given its gut-specific mechanism.

Aims

Here we report the unique case of a 14-year-old male with UC on vedolizumab presenting with severe abdominal pain, GI bleeding, markedly elevated inflammatory markers and subsequent purpura.

Methods

N/A

Results

A diagnosis of IgA vasculitis (IgAV) was made after extensive imaging, endoscopy and subspecialty consultation. Clinical course was complicated but ultimately responded to high dose steroid treatment without cessation of VDZ.

Conclusions

This case illustrates a potentially independent pathway behind IgAV in a patient on a gut-selective therapy with UC. This is the first pediatric case of vasculitis in a patient with UC on VDZ.

Funding Agencies

None

The development of bone mineral lateralization in the arms

Bone mineral content (BMC) is known to be greater in the dominant arm after the age of 8 years. We studied a group of children and found that BMC sidedness gradually increased up to the age of 6 years and then remained stable into late adolescence.

INTRODUCTION

Bone mineral content (BMC) exhibits sidedness in the arms after the age of 8 years, but it is not known whether BMC is greater in the dominant arm from birth or whether lateralization develops in early childhood. To address this, we examined bone mineral status in relation to handedness and age.

METHODS

Subjects (N = 158) were children recently initiating glucocorticoids for underlying disease (leukemia 43 %, rheumatic conditions 39 %, nephrotic syndrome 18 %). Handedness was determined by questionnaire and BMC by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.

RESULTS

Median age was 7.2 years (range, 1.5 to 17.0 years), 49 % was male, and the spine BMD Z-score was -0.9 (SD, 1.3). By linear regression, BMC sidedness in the arms was significantly related to age (r = 0.294, p = 0.0005). Breakpoint analysis revealed two lines with a knot at 6.0 years (95 % CI, 4.5-7.5 years). The formula for the first line was: dominant:nondominant arm BMC ratio = 0.029 × age [in years] + 0.850 (r = 0.323, p = 0.017). The slope of the second line was not different from 0 (p = 0.332), while the slopes for the two lines were significantly different (p = 0.027).

CONCLUSIONS

These results show that arm BMC sidedness in this patient group develops up to age 6 years and then remains stable into late adolescence. This temporal profile is consistent with mechanical stimulation of the skeleton in response to asymmetrical muscle use as handedness becomes manifest.