Update in medical treatment of Crohn's disease.
Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disorder that has no known cause. The goal of medical treatment is to control active disease, induce and maintain clinical remission, and treat complications. Anti-inflammatory medications and immunomodulatory therapies are the primary treatment modalities for Crohn's disease. The categories of standard treatment include the 5-aminosalicylic acid compounds, corticosteroids, antibiotics, and immunomodulators. New biologic therapy has been developed to better target the immune mediators that are active in Crohn's disease. Infliximab is the first of the biologic agents approved for the treatment of fistulizing and active Crohn's disease. Despite medical advances in treatment, there is still no cure for Crohn's disease.
Regueiro
M D
MD
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pennsylvania 15213, USA. regueirom@msx.dept-med.pitt.edu
D000465:Algorithms; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans