title: Ulcerative colitis disease activity as subjectively assessed by patient-completed questionnaires following orthotopic liver transplantation for sclerosing cholangitis.
abstract: To assess whether or not liver transplantation and subsequent immunosuppression with cyclosporine and prednisone affect ulcerative colitis symptomatology, we surveyed by questionnaire all 23 surviving patients with pretransplant colonoscopy-documented ulcerative colitis who were transplanted for primary sclerosing cholangitis between June 1982 and September 1985. At follow-up [89.8 +/- 7.6 weeks (mean +/- SEM], all six patients who had had asymptomatic colonoscopy-documented ulcerative colitis reported continued ulcerative colitis quiescence. Among the 17 patients who had had symptomatic colonoscopy-documented ulcerative colitis at time of liver transplantation, 88.2% reported improvement in overall ulcerative colitis severity (P less than 0.001), with significant improvement in the frequency of bowel movements reported by 100%, in crampy abdominal pain by 87.5%, in bowel urgency by 75%, in the occurrence of pus or mucus in stool by 87.5%, in the incidence of ulcerative colitis flares by 81.8%, and in the number of days unable to function normally due to ulcerative colitis symptoms by 78.6% (all at least P less than 0.01). These data demonstrate that ulcerative colitis symptom severity significantly improves following liver transplantation with immunosuppression with cyclosporine and prednisone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania 15261.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Gavaler
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Delemos
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Belle
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Heyl
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Tarter
authors.forename: T E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Starzl
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gavaler
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: van Thiel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015209:Cholangitis, Sclerosing / Q000601:surgery*; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D003524:Cyclosporins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008297:Male; D011241:Prednisone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D003524:Cyclosporins; D011241:Prednisone