title: Current and emerging maintenance therapies for ulcerative colitis.
abstract: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic idiopathic intestinal disease that requires life-long maintenance therapy to maintain clinical remission. This article reviews the current literature on maintenance treatments in UC. It examines the natural history of the condition and the proposed benefits of treatment. These include improving quality of life parameters, decreasing corticosteroid intake, the prevention of relapse, the prevention of colorectal cancer and the avoidance of colectomy. The immunosuppressive era appears to be reducing the need for elective colectomy in UC. The article explores the classes of drug currently used for maintenance of UC, reviews the literature around adherence issues, and summarizes emerging agents in this space.
authors.affiliation: Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: Alan C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Moss
mesh_terms: D000068879:Adalimumab; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D000069285:Infliximab; D019804:Mesalamine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012074:Remission Induction
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D019804:Mesalamine; C529000:golimumab; D000069285:Infliximab; D000068879:Adalimumab