title: Acute severe colitis: infliximab and/or cyclosporine?
abstract: Acute severe ulcerative colitis is a serious condition that requires early hospitalization, with intensive monitoring and treatment. Despite the recent progress in the medical approach of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases acute severe ulcerative colitis remains a clinical challenge, with a mortality rate of nearly 1%. As of today, I.V. corticosteroids remain the 1(st)-line therapy for this complication. For non-responders (up to one-third of patients) possible options are surgery - whose timing is a critical point in the overall management of the disease - or rescue therapy with 2(nd)- line agents such as Cyclosporine and Infliximab. Here we will review the published studies dealing with the use of these medications in acute severe ulcerative colitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Pathology, Istituto Clinico Humanitas-Rozzano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fabro
authors.forename: Hajnalka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Szabo
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Terrosu
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Avellini
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tabuso
authors.forename: Gionata
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fiorino
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sorrentino
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery; D016572:Cyclosporine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000069285:Infliximab; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016572:Cyclosporine; D000069285:Infliximab