{"title":"Letter: Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease in Primary Biliary Cholangitis—Friend, Foe or Red Herring? Authors' Reply","authors":"Conrado Fernández, Antonio Olveira","doi":"10.1111/apt.18332","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.18332","url":null,"abstract":"Click on the article title to read more.","PeriodicalId":121,"journal":{"name":"Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142385701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Letter: Metabolic Dysfunction–Associated Steatotic Liver Disease in Primary Biliary Cholangitis—Friend, Foe or Red Herring?","authors":"Ilkay Ergenc, Yusuf Yilmaz","doi":"10.1111/apt.18302","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.18302","url":null,"abstract":"Click on the article title to read more.","PeriodicalId":121,"journal":{"name":"Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics","volume":"39 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142385715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kristin Ranheim Randel, Edoardo Botteri, Thomas de Lange, Anna Lisa Schult, Sigrun Losada Eskeland, Badboni El-Safadi, Espen R Norvard, Nils Bolstad, Michael Bretthauer, Geir Hoff, Øyvind Holme
Background: The positivity thresholds of faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening vary between countries.
Aims: To explore the trade-off between colonoscopies performed, adverse events and lesions detected at different FIT thresholds in a Norwegian CRC screening trial.
Methods: We included first participation in biennial FIT screening for 47,265 individuals aged 50-74 years. Individuals with FIT > 15 μg Hb/g faeces were referred for colonoscopy. We estimated the number of colonoscopies, adverse events, screen-detected CRCs, advanced adenomas and serrated lesions expected at FIT thresholds currently or recently used in other European countries ranging between 20 and 150 μg/g.
Results: At the 15 μg/g threshold (Norway), 3705 participants underwent colonoscopy, of whom 203 had CRC, 1119 advanced adenomas and 256 advanced serrated lesions. Using a 47 μg/g threshold, 1826 (49.3%) individuals would have undergone colonoscopy, and 154 (75.9%) would have been diagnosed with CRC, 702 (62.7%) with advanced adenoma and 128 (50.0%) with advanced serrated lesion compared to the 15 μg/g threshold. At 150 μg/g, the corresponding figures would have been 838 (22.6%) undergoing colonoscopy, 114 (56.2%) with CRC, 345 (30.8%) advanced adenoma and 54 (21.1%) advanced serrated lesions. The detection rate of stage I CRC was 0.22% at 15 μg/g and 0.11% at 150 μg/g. Post-colonoscopy bleeding rates were 0.8% and 1.7%, respectively.
Conclusions: Increasing the FIT threshold reduces colonoscopy demand, but substantially decreases lesion detection and unfavourably changes CRC stage distribution. The risk of adverse events at colonoscopy increased with FIT threshold, requiring country-specific information on adverse events.
{"title":"Performance of Faecal Immunochemical Testing for Colorectal Cancer Screening at Varying Positivity Thresholds.","authors":"Kristin Ranheim Randel, Edoardo Botteri, Thomas de Lange, Anna Lisa Schult, Sigrun Losada Eskeland, Badboni El-Safadi, Espen R Norvard, Nils Bolstad, Michael Bretthauer, Geir Hoff, Øyvind Holme","doi":"10.1111/apt.18314","DOIUrl":"10.1111/apt.18314","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The positivity thresholds of faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening vary between countries.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>To explore the trade-off between colonoscopies performed, adverse events and lesions detected at different FIT thresholds in a Norwegian CRC screening trial.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We included first participation in biennial FIT screening for 47,265 individuals aged 50-74 years. Individuals with FIT > 15 μg Hb/g faeces were referred for colonoscopy. We estimated the number of colonoscopies, adverse events, screen-detected CRCs, advanced adenomas and serrated lesions expected at FIT thresholds currently or recently used in other European countries ranging between 20 and 150 μg/g.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>At the 15 μg/g threshold (Norway), 3705 participants underwent colonoscopy, of whom 203 had CRC, 1119 advanced adenomas and 256 advanced serrated lesions. Using a 47 μg/g threshold, 1826 (49.3%) individuals would have undergone colonoscopy, and 154 (75.9%) would have been diagnosed with CRC, 702 (62.7%) with advanced adenoma and 128 (50.0%) with advanced serrated lesion compared to the 15 μg/g threshold. At 150 μg/g, the corresponding figures would have been 838 (22.6%) undergoing colonoscopy, 114 (56.2%) with CRC, 345 (30.8%) advanced adenoma and 54 (21.1%) advanced serrated lesions. The detection rate of stage I CRC was 0.22% at 15 μg/g and 0.11% at 150 μg/g. Post-colonoscopy bleeding rates were 0.8% and 1.7%, respectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Increasing the FIT threshold reduces colonoscopy demand, but substantially decreases lesion detection and unfavourably changes CRC stage distribution. The risk of adverse events at colonoscopy increased with FIT threshold, requiring country-specific information on adverse events.</p><p><strong>Trial registration: </strong>Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01538550.</p>","PeriodicalId":121,"journal":{"name":"Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142379619","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
<p>Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease affecting the colon. Because of its relapsing and remitting course, it sometimes requires an aggressive therapeutic approach to prevent complications.<span><sup>1, 2</sup></span></p><p>Ustekinumab is a humanised monoclonal IgG<sub>1</sub> kappa antibody blocking the p40 subunit of the interleukins (IL) 12/23.<span><sup>3</sup></span> It was approved by the European Medicines Agency in September 2019<span><sup>4</sup></span> for the treatment of moderate to severe UC after the UNIFI study had demonstrated its efficacy and safety.<span><sup>5</sup></span> In recent years, ‘real-world’ data have confirmed its effectiveness and safety.<span><sup>6</sup></span> However, the latter studies have been limited by small population samples enrolled and short follow-up.</p><p>Chaparro et al.<span><sup>7</sup></span> have analysed retrospective data from a Spanish multicentre cohort and reported short- and long-term outcomes in patients with UC treated with ustekinumab. There were four key findings from this study.</p><p>First, there was a large number of patients enrolled (620), with fairly good length of follow-up, for the long-term evaluation of drug safety. Second, only 25% discontinued ustekinumab during follow-up, with a discontinuation incidence rate of 20% per patient-year. This was very interesting, especially because it concerned a multi-refractory cohort, composed almost entirely of bio-experienced patients who had failed an average of two biologic treatments. Third, the primary effectiveness endpoint of steroid-free clinical remission at week 16 was reached by 40% of patients. This was lower than in the UNIFI trial<span><sup>5</sup></span> (58.4% and 53% in patients treated with ustekinumab 130 mg iv and with 6 mg/kg iv, respectively). In UNIFI, symptomatic remission could be with or without steroids, in line with the real-life data published so far, in which steroid-free remission after 4–16 weeks ranged from 14% to 67%.<span><sup>6</sup></span> To give more strength to the data in the analysis of short-term efficacy, the authors only considered patients who had active disease at baseline. Furthermore, looking at long-term effectiveness, 75% and 57% of patients in remission at week 16 maintained steroid-free clinical remission at 12 and 24 months, respectively. Fourth, this study confirmed an excellent safety profile of ustekinumab for UC in routine clinical practice, since only 12 and 7 patients out of 620 had to temporarily or permanently suspend treatment.</p><p>However, there are some limitations to consider. The main limitation was the retrospective, uncontrolled design. Furthermore, clinical remission—the primary effectiveness endpoint—was defined as a PMS ≤2, while other studies defined it as PMS ≤1.<span><sup>8</sup></span> This means that patients with few symptoms could be considered ‘in remission’.<span><sup>7</sup></span> Another limitation was the lack of endoscopic d
{"title":"Editorial: Effectiveness and safety of ustekinumab in ulcerative colitis—Where we are now in real life","authors":"Giammarco Mocci, Antonio Tursi","doi":"10.1111/apt.18272","DOIUrl":"10.1111/apt.18272","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease affecting the colon. Because of its relapsing and remitting course, it sometimes requires an aggressive therapeutic approach to prevent complications.<span><sup>1, 2</sup></span></p><p>Ustekinumab is a humanised monoclonal IgG<sub>1</sub> kappa antibody blocking the p40 subunit of the interleukins (IL) 12/23.<span><sup>3</sup></span> It was approved by the European Medicines Agency in September 2019<span><sup>4</sup></span> for the treatment of moderate to severe UC after the UNIFI study had demonstrated its efficacy and safety.<span><sup>5</sup></span> In recent years, ‘real-world’ data have confirmed its effectiveness and safety.<span><sup>6</sup></span> However, the latter studies have been limited by small population samples enrolled and short follow-up.</p><p>Chaparro et al.<span><sup>7</sup></span> have analysed retrospective data from a Spanish multicentre cohort and reported short- and long-term outcomes in patients with UC treated with ustekinumab. There were four key findings from this study.</p><p>First, there was a large number of patients enrolled (620), with fairly good length of follow-up, for the long-term evaluation of drug safety. Second, only 25% discontinued ustekinumab during follow-up, with a discontinuation incidence rate of 20% per patient-year. This was very interesting, especially because it concerned a multi-refractory cohort, composed almost entirely of bio-experienced patients who had failed an average of two biologic treatments. Third, the primary effectiveness endpoint of steroid-free clinical remission at week 16 was reached by 40% of patients. This was lower than in the UNIFI trial<span><sup>5</sup></span> (58.4% and 53% in patients treated with ustekinumab 130 mg iv and with 6 mg/kg iv, respectively). In UNIFI, symptomatic remission could be with or without steroids, in line with the real-life data published so far, in which steroid-free remission after 4–16 weeks ranged from 14% to 67%.<span><sup>6</sup></span> To give more strength to the data in the analysis of short-term efficacy, the authors only considered patients who had active disease at baseline. Furthermore, looking at long-term effectiveness, 75% and 57% of patients in remission at week 16 maintained steroid-free clinical remission at 12 and 24 months, respectively. Fourth, this study confirmed an excellent safety profile of ustekinumab for UC in routine clinical practice, since only 12 and 7 patients out of 620 had to temporarily or permanently suspend treatment.</p><p>However, there are some limitations to consider. The main limitation was the retrospective, uncontrolled design. Furthermore, clinical remission—the primary effectiveness endpoint—was defined as a PMS ≤2, while other studies defined it as PMS ≤1.<span><sup>8</sup></span> This means that patients with few symptoms could be considered ‘in remission’.<span><sup>7</sup></span> Another limitation was the lack of endoscopic d","PeriodicalId":121,"journal":{"name":"Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics","volume":"60 10","pages":"1459-1460"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/apt.18272","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142379616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nathan Grellier, Julien Kirchgesner, Philippe Seksik
<p>We fully agree with the conclusions presented in the editorial by Drs. Pillay and Christensen [<span>1</span>], on our work (the ERIC study) [<span>2</span>], which emphasised the importance of early surgical intervention in certain cases of Crohn's disease (CD). We also believe that surgery should always be discussed in an integrated way for complicated CD but also for pure inflammatory ileal CD given the findings of the LIR!C trial [<span>3, 4</span>]. The results of our study provide more insights on the potential benefit of early ileocecal resection and particularly the absence of poor prognostic factors associated with early surgery. We share Dr. Pillay's and Dr. Christensen's view that we currently face an ambitious challenge to combine surgery and advanced medical therapies at the right time for the right patient.</p><p>As highlighted by the reply, we acknowledge the limitations raised, particularly the dropout rates and generalisability concerns. While 77 patients were lost to follow-up due to the tertiary centre setting, a large cohort of 393 patients was included in our analysis with a median follow-up of 9.4 years (IQR 5.5–13.7), which allowed us to present robust and fair data.</p><p>Our work strengthens the relevance of early surgical intervention for complicated disease and addresses a gap not covered by other studies. Furthermore, the ERIC study answered a question that neither the LIR!C trial nor the Danish population study by Agrawal and colleagues answered, namely the natural history of early complicated disease requiring surgery [<span>5</span>]. With the ERIC study, we have brought additional insight into this specific subset of patients with CD.</p><p>As evidence of the benefit of early ileocecal resection in patients with CD grows, it is important to remember the impact of surgery on patients' day-to-day symptoms despite the reassuring findings of the LIR!C trial on quality of life [<span>6</span>]. Disabling symptoms are common after ileocecal resection due to bile acid diarrhoea and the loss of the ileocecal valve. Nearly two-thirds of patients will have diarrhoea daily and many will experience urgency independent of CD recurrence [<span>7, 8</span>]. These symptoms may be masked by anti-diarrhoeal medications, but some may be irreversible.</p><p>Finally, while our findings and the editorial both support the role of early surgery, more prospective studies are needed to identify the right timing and candidates for this intervention. Balancing the benefits of surgery with potential risks is crucial for optimising outcomes and ensuring that the decision to operate is made with a comprehensive understanding of the patient's condition and long-term prognosis.</p><p><b>Nathan Grellier:</b> writing – original draft. <b>Julien Kirchgesner:</b> writing – review and editing. <b>Philippe Seksik:</b> writing – review and editing.</p><p>J.K. Lecture fees from Pfizer and Janssen, consulting fees from Roche, Pfizer and Gilead. P.S. re
我们完全同意 Pillay 和 Christensen 医生[1]就我们的工作(ERIC 研究)[2]发表的社论中提出的结论,其中强调了早期手术干预对某些克罗恩病 (CD) 病例的重要性。我们还认为,考虑到 LIR! C 试验[3, 4]的结果,对于复杂的 CD 病例以及单纯炎症性回肠 CD 病例,应始终以综合的方式讨论手术问题。我们的研究结果为早期回盲部切除术的潜在益处,尤其是早期手术不存在不良预后因素提供了更多启示。我们同意 Pillay 博士和 Christensen 博士的观点,即我们目前面临着一项艰巨的挑战,即在合适的时间为合适的患者结合手术和先进的药物疗法。我们的工作加强了复杂疾病早期手术干预的相关性,填补了其他研究未覆盖的空白。此外,ERIC研究还回答了LIR!C试验和Agrawal及其同事的丹麦人群研究都没有回答的问题,即需要手术治疗的早期并发症的自然史[5]。随着 CD 患者早期回盲部切除术获益的证据越来越多,我们必须牢记手术对患者日常症状的影响,尽管 LIR!C 试验对生活质量的研究结果令人欣慰[6]。回盲部切除术后,由于胆汁酸腹泻和回盲部瓣膜缺失,致残症状很常见。近三分之二的患者每天都会腹泻,许多患者会出现腹泻急迫感,与 CD 复发无关[7, 8]。最后,虽然我们的研究结果和社论都支持早期手术的作用,但还需要更多的前瞻性研究来确定这一干预措施的正确时机和候选者。平衡手术的益处和潜在风险对于优化治疗效果至关重要,并确保在全面了解患者病情和长期预后的情况下做出手术决定。Julien Kirchgesner:撰写-审阅和编辑。Philippe Seksik:撰写-审阅和编辑。J.K.从辉瑞和杨森获得讲课费,从罗氏、辉瑞和吉利德获得咨询费。P.S.从武田、艾伯维、默克-MSD、Biocodex、杨森、安进、安斯泰来和辉瑞获得咨询费,并从Biocodex和杨森获得资助。要查看这些文章,请访问 https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.18247 和 https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.18290。
{"title":"Editorial: Re-Evaluating Early Surgery in Ileocaecal Crohn's Disease. Author's Reply","authors":"Nathan Grellier, Julien Kirchgesner, Philippe Seksik","doi":"10.1111/apt.18320","DOIUrl":"10.1111/apt.18320","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We fully agree with the conclusions presented in the editorial by Drs. Pillay and Christensen [<span>1</span>], on our work (the ERIC study) [<span>2</span>], which emphasised the importance of early surgical intervention in certain cases of Crohn's disease (CD). We also believe that surgery should always be discussed in an integrated way for complicated CD but also for pure inflammatory ileal CD given the findings of the LIR!C trial [<span>3, 4</span>]. The results of our study provide more insights on the potential benefit of early ileocecal resection and particularly the absence of poor prognostic factors associated with early surgery. We share Dr. Pillay's and Dr. Christensen's view that we currently face an ambitious challenge to combine surgery and advanced medical therapies at the right time for the right patient.</p><p>As highlighted by the reply, we acknowledge the limitations raised, particularly the dropout rates and generalisability concerns. While 77 patients were lost to follow-up due to the tertiary centre setting, a large cohort of 393 patients was included in our analysis with a median follow-up of 9.4 years (IQR 5.5–13.7), which allowed us to present robust and fair data.</p><p>Our work strengthens the relevance of early surgical intervention for complicated disease and addresses a gap not covered by other studies. Furthermore, the ERIC study answered a question that neither the LIR!C trial nor the Danish population study by Agrawal and colleagues answered, namely the natural history of early complicated disease requiring surgery [<span>5</span>]. With the ERIC study, we have brought additional insight into this specific subset of patients with CD.</p><p>As evidence of the benefit of early ileocecal resection in patients with CD grows, it is important to remember the impact of surgery on patients' day-to-day symptoms despite the reassuring findings of the LIR!C trial on quality of life [<span>6</span>]. Disabling symptoms are common after ileocecal resection due to bile acid diarrhoea and the loss of the ileocecal valve. Nearly two-thirds of patients will have diarrhoea daily and many will experience urgency independent of CD recurrence [<span>7, 8</span>]. These symptoms may be masked by anti-diarrhoeal medications, but some may be irreversible.</p><p>Finally, while our findings and the editorial both support the role of early surgery, more prospective studies are needed to identify the right timing and candidates for this intervention. Balancing the benefits of surgery with potential risks is crucial for optimising outcomes and ensuring that the decision to operate is made with a comprehensive understanding of the patient's condition and long-term prognosis.</p><p><b>Nathan Grellier:</b> writing – original draft. <b>Julien Kirchgesner:</b> writing – review and editing. <b>Philippe Seksik:</b> writing – review and editing.</p><p>J.K. Lecture fees from Pfizer and Janssen, consulting fees from Roche, Pfizer and Gilead. P.S. re","PeriodicalId":121,"journal":{"name":"Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics","volume":"60 10","pages":"1465-1466"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/apt.18320","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142379618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
<p>We appreciate the interest shown by Dr. Mocci and Tursi in our study, and their acknowledgment of its importance in advancing the understanding of the role of ustekinumab in the management of ulcerative colitis (UC) in clinical practice [<span>1</span>]. Real-world studies provide necessary and complementary information to clinical trials regarding the benefits of drugs in clinical practice. First, only one-third of individuals with inflammatory bowel disease receiving a treatment in clinical practice would have been eligible to participate in clinical trials [<span>2</span>]. Second, the definition of disease activity differs in clinical trials, which biases inclusion towards a certain type of patient. Third, clinical trials do not always provide the ability to optimise the dose. Finally, the endpoints of interest may differ.</p><p>As noted by Mocci and Tursi our study included a large number of patients (620) with UC treated with ustekinumab in clinical practice, with relatively long follow-up (median 12 months) [<span>3</span>]. Our results support the effectiveness and safety profile of ustekinumab in a cohort of patients with refractory UC. Additionally, this study allowed us to identify factors associated with loss of response and drug discontinuation. Finally, we described that empiric dose escalation restores the drug's efficacy in over 60% of patients, making it a recommended strategy in this clinical scenario.</p><p>Furthermore, Mocci and Tursi highlighted some limitations of our study [<span>1</span>]. As acknowledged in the manuscript, the study was retrospective. However, our main outcome was treatment survival and these data were readily available in patients' medical records, making recall bias unlikely. However, while the definition of clinical remission is not standardised, most clinical practice studies and clinical trials on drugs for UC have similarly used a Partial Mayo Score ≤ 2 [<span>4, 5</span>]. Finally, we would like to highlight that patients discontinuing ustekinumab for any reason before their last visit were considered treatment failures, reflecting the rigour of our evaluation.</p><p>In conclusion, thanks to this large cohort of patients with UC, we were able to describe in detail the persistence, effectiveness and safety of ustekinumab in a real-world setting. We appreciate the opportunity to share the results of our study and hope they will be useful for decision-making in clinical practice. We encourage clinicians to share their real-world experience, as these data are essential for the proper positioning of the drug in clinical practice.</p><p><b>María Chaparro:</b> conceptualization, writing – review and editing, writing – original draft. <b>Javier P. Gisbert:</b> conceptualization, writing – review and editing.</p><p>María Chaparro has served as speaker, consultant or received research or education funding from MSD, Abbvie, Hospira, Pfizer, Takeda, Janssen, Ferring, Shire Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Falk Pharma,
{"title":"Editorial: Effectiveness and Safety of Ustekinumab in Ulcerative Colitis—Where We Are Now in Real Life. Authors' Reply","authors":"María Chaparro, Javier P. Gisbert","doi":"10.1111/apt.18316","DOIUrl":"10.1111/apt.18316","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We appreciate the interest shown by Dr. Mocci and Tursi in our study, and their acknowledgment of its importance in advancing the understanding of the role of ustekinumab in the management of ulcerative colitis (UC) in clinical practice [<span>1</span>]. Real-world studies provide necessary and complementary information to clinical trials regarding the benefits of drugs in clinical practice. First, only one-third of individuals with inflammatory bowel disease receiving a treatment in clinical practice would have been eligible to participate in clinical trials [<span>2</span>]. Second, the definition of disease activity differs in clinical trials, which biases inclusion towards a certain type of patient. Third, clinical trials do not always provide the ability to optimise the dose. Finally, the endpoints of interest may differ.</p><p>As noted by Mocci and Tursi our study included a large number of patients (620) with UC treated with ustekinumab in clinical practice, with relatively long follow-up (median 12 months) [<span>3</span>]. Our results support the effectiveness and safety profile of ustekinumab in a cohort of patients with refractory UC. Additionally, this study allowed us to identify factors associated with loss of response and drug discontinuation. Finally, we described that empiric dose escalation restores the drug's efficacy in over 60% of patients, making it a recommended strategy in this clinical scenario.</p><p>Furthermore, Mocci and Tursi highlighted some limitations of our study [<span>1</span>]. As acknowledged in the manuscript, the study was retrospective. However, our main outcome was treatment survival and these data were readily available in patients' medical records, making recall bias unlikely. However, while the definition of clinical remission is not standardised, most clinical practice studies and clinical trials on drugs for UC have similarly used a Partial Mayo Score ≤ 2 [<span>4, 5</span>]. Finally, we would like to highlight that patients discontinuing ustekinumab for any reason before their last visit were considered treatment failures, reflecting the rigour of our evaluation.</p><p>In conclusion, thanks to this large cohort of patients with UC, we were able to describe in detail the persistence, effectiveness and safety of ustekinumab in a real-world setting. We appreciate the opportunity to share the results of our study and hope they will be useful for decision-making in clinical practice. We encourage clinicians to share their real-world experience, as these data are essential for the proper positioning of the drug in clinical practice.</p><p><b>María Chaparro:</b> conceptualization, writing – review and editing, writing – original draft. <b>Javier P. Gisbert:</b> conceptualization, writing – review and editing.</p><p>María Chaparro has served as speaker, consultant or received research or education funding from MSD, Abbvie, Hospira, Pfizer, Takeda, Janssen, Ferring, Shire Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Falk Pharma, ","PeriodicalId":121,"journal":{"name":"Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics","volume":"60 10","pages":"1461-1462"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/apt.18316","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142379615","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
<p>Since the introduction of biologics, treatment strategies for Crohn's disease (CD) have focused on initial medical management, reserving surgery for patients who fail medical therapy or who develop complications. Despite this, most patients with ileal involvement, a key risk factor for progression to stricturing and penetrating complications, still require at least one surgical resection within 10 years of diagnosis.<span><sup>1-3</sup></span></p><p>The 2017 LIR!C trial challenged this approach, demonstrating that early ileocecal resection was non-inferior to initial anti-TNF therapy in patients who failed conventional treatments in terms of quality of life, treatment effectiveness and disease complications.<span><sup>4</sup></span> Moreover, early surgery reduced the need for advanced medical therapies and disease-related complications and morphological recurrence on long-term follow-up.<span><sup>5</sup></span> These findings prompted questions about whether early surgery should play a more prominent role as first-line therapy in ileal CD.</p><p>The retrospective study by Grellier et al.<span><sup>6</sup></span> aimed to provide further insight into this ongoing debate. This study compared outcomes in patients undergoing early (within 6 months of diagnosis), intermediate (6 months to 2 years) and late (2–5 years) ileal resection for CD. For the primary outcome, cumulative risk of second surgery at 10 years, there were no significant differences among the three arms (25%, 17% and 23%, respectively). This was despite the early resection group tending to have more complicated diseases and a higher proportion of smokers. Notably, 69% of early surgery patients were medical therapy-naïve compared to just 16% and 8% in the intermediate and late groups.</p><p>Consistent with LIR!C and data of Agrawal et al.<span><sup>7</sup></span> the study highlighted important differences in disease progression in those undergoing early surgical resection versus initial medical therapy. Compared to the later surgical arms, patients with early resection were less likely to require advanced medical therapies postoperatively (median survival 3.7 years vs. 0.92 years) and had less morphologic recurrence at 5 years (54.4% vs. 68.2%; <i>p</i> = 0.02). Importantly, anti-TNF exposure before surgery was also associated with higher risk of second ileal resection (HR: 2.82; <i>p</i> < 0.001), suggesting that biologics may influence CD biology and long-term surgical outcomes.</p><p>The study's limitations include high dropout rate, retrospective analysis and exclusion of patients who did not undergo surgery within 5 years of diagnosis, limiting the generalizability of the results.</p><p>Despite these limitations, it has added valuable insight into the growing body of evidence that early surgery in ileal CD does not lead to worse long-term outcomes. On the contrary, early resection may offer protective benefits by altering CD biology resulting in reduced need for advanced
自生物制剂问世以来,克罗恩病(CD)的治疗策略一直侧重于初始药物治疗,为药物治疗失败或出现并发症的患者保留手术治疗。尽管如此,大多数回肠受累的患者仍需要在确诊后 10 年内至少进行一次手术切除,而回肠受累是进展为狭窄性和穿透性并发症的关键风险因素。1-3 2017 年的 LIR!C 试验对这一方法提出了挑战,试验表明,对于常规治疗失败的患者,早期回盲部切除术在生活质量、治疗效果和疾病并发症方面均不优于初始抗肿瘤坏死因子治疗。此外,早期手术减少了对高级药物疗法的需求,也减少了长期随访中与疾病相关的并发症和形态学复发。5 这些发现引发了关于早期手术是否应作为回肠 CD 一线疗法发挥更重要作用的问题。这项研究比较了因 CD 而接受早期(诊断后 6 个月内)、中期(6 个月至 2 年)和晚期(2-5 年)回肠切除术的患者的预后。就主要结果(10 年后第二次手术的累积风险)而言,三组之间没有显著差异(分别为 25%、17% 和 23%)。尽管早期切除组患者的病情更复杂,吸烟者比例更高,但这一结果并不明显。值得注意的是,69% 的早期手术患者没有接受过药物治疗,而中期组和晚期组分别只有 16% 和 8% 的患者没有接受过药物治疗。与后期手术组相比,早期切除的患者术后需要高级药物治疗的可能性较低(中位生存期为 3.7 年 vs. 0.92 年),5 年后的形态学复发率较低(54.4% vs. 68.2%;P = 0.02)。重要的是,术前接触抗肿瘤坏死因子也与第二次回肠切除术的风险较高有关(HR:2.82;p = 0.001),这表明生物制剂可能会影响 CD 的生物学特性和长期手术预后。该研究的局限性包括高辍学率、回顾性分析以及排除了确诊后5年内未接受手术的患者,从而限制了研究结果的推广性。尽管存在这些局限性,但该研究为越来越多的证据增添了宝贵的见解,即早期手术治疗回肠CD不会导致更差的长期预后。相反,早期切除可能会通过改变 CD 的生物学特性提供保护性益处,从而减少对先进疗法的需求并降低形态学复发率。这些研究结果加强了将手术作为回肠CD患者早期干预措施的论点。有了这些不断积累的证据,也许是时候重新思考目前将手术保留给复杂或难治性CD患者的治疗模式了。虽然还需要进一步的前瞻性研究,但未来的CD治疗可能会采用更综合的方法,将早期手术与先进的药物疗法相结合,帮助患者实现长期的症状控制和疾病清除:写作--原稿;写作--审阅和编辑;构思。布里特-克里斯滕森:写作--审阅和编辑;构思;指导。本文链接到格雷利尔等人的论文。要查看这些文章,请访问 https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.18247 和 https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.18320。
{"title":"Editorial: Re-evaluating early surgery in Ileocaecal Crohn's disease","authors":"Leshni Pillay, Britt Christensen","doi":"10.1111/apt.18290","DOIUrl":"10.1111/apt.18290","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Since the introduction of biologics, treatment strategies for Crohn's disease (CD) have focused on initial medical management, reserving surgery for patients who fail medical therapy or who develop complications. Despite this, most patients with ileal involvement, a key risk factor for progression to stricturing and penetrating complications, still require at least one surgical resection within 10 years of diagnosis.<span><sup>1-3</sup></span></p><p>The 2017 LIR!C trial challenged this approach, demonstrating that early ileocecal resection was non-inferior to initial anti-TNF therapy in patients who failed conventional treatments in terms of quality of life, treatment effectiveness and disease complications.<span><sup>4</sup></span> Moreover, early surgery reduced the need for advanced medical therapies and disease-related complications and morphological recurrence on long-term follow-up.<span><sup>5</sup></span> These findings prompted questions about whether early surgery should play a more prominent role as first-line therapy in ileal CD.</p><p>The retrospective study by Grellier et al.<span><sup>6</sup></span> aimed to provide further insight into this ongoing debate. This study compared outcomes in patients undergoing early (within 6 months of diagnosis), intermediate (6 months to 2 years) and late (2–5 years) ileal resection for CD. For the primary outcome, cumulative risk of second surgery at 10 years, there were no significant differences among the three arms (25%, 17% and 23%, respectively). This was despite the early resection group tending to have more complicated diseases and a higher proportion of smokers. Notably, 69% of early surgery patients were medical therapy-naïve compared to just 16% and 8% in the intermediate and late groups.</p><p>Consistent with LIR!C and data of Agrawal et al.<span><sup>7</sup></span> the study highlighted important differences in disease progression in those undergoing early surgical resection versus initial medical therapy. Compared to the later surgical arms, patients with early resection were less likely to require advanced medical therapies postoperatively (median survival 3.7 years vs. 0.92 years) and had less morphologic recurrence at 5 years (54.4% vs. 68.2%; <i>p</i> = 0.02). Importantly, anti-TNF exposure before surgery was also associated with higher risk of second ileal resection (HR: 2.82; <i>p</i> < 0.001), suggesting that biologics may influence CD biology and long-term surgical outcomes.</p><p>The study's limitations include high dropout rate, retrospective analysis and exclusion of patients who did not undergo surgery within 5 years of diagnosis, limiting the generalizability of the results.</p><p>Despite these limitations, it has added valuable insight into the growing body of evidence that early surgery in ileal CD does not lead to worse long-term outcomes. On the contrary, early resection may offer protective benefits by altering CD biology resulting in reduced need for advanced ","PeriodicalId":121,"journal":{"name":"Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics","volume":"60 10","pages":"1463-1464"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/apt.18290","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142379617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maria Manuela Estevinho, Bernardo Sousa-Pinto, Paula Leão Moreira, Virginia Solitano, Pedro Mesquita, Catarina Costa, Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet, Silvio Danese, Vipul Jairath, Fernando Magro