OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy and safety of infliximab in the treatment of Crohn's disease in children.

METHODSThirteen children who were diagnosed with Crohn's disease and received routine comprehensive treatment and infliximab (5 mg/kg) between January 2011 and December 2014 were enrolled. The changes in their clinical manifestations, laboratory indices, and Pediatric Crohn's Disease Activity Index (PCDAI) after the 30-week treatment were analyzed retrospectively. Meanwhile, endoscopy was performed to evaluate therapeutic effects.

RESULTSThe symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, and bloody stool were relieved soon after infliximab treatment, with no recurrence observed; after the 30-week treatment, the white blood cell count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, and the PCDAI decreased, while the hemoglobin increased significantly compared with those before treatment (P<0.05). After infliximab treatment, two children underwent endoscopy. The endoscopy showed that one child was cured, and the other child failed to respond to the treatment. No adverse drug reactions were seen in all patients.

CONCLUSIONSInfliximab treatment has significant clinical effects in children with Crohn's disease, with no obvious adverse reactions, and therefore, it can be applied as one of the preferred alternatives for treatment of Crohn's disease in children.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Crohn Disease ; blood ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Infliximab ; therapeutic use ; Male

In Crohn's disease, neurologic complications such as cerebrovascular accident, headache, peripheral neuropathy have been reported sporadically. The pathogenesis of these neurologic complications is still unknown and controversial. We experienced a 22-year-old man, with Crohn's disease accompanied by optic neuritis. Loss of visual acuity was developed during the worsening course of enterocutaneous fistula. After high dose steroid treatment, his visual acuity and neurologic symptoms improved immediately.
Adult ; Crohn Disease/*complications/drug therapy/pathology ; Humans ; Intestinal Fistula/complications ; Male ; Optic Neuritis/*complications/diagnosis

Crohn's disease is characterized by its chronic course and transmural inflammation of gastrointestinal tract. The accompanying fibrous reaction and adhesion to adjacent viscera appears to limit the complication of free perforation. The true incidence of free bowel perforation is difficult to assess, however, the anticipated occurrence rate is 1-2% during the course of illness. Moreover, portal venous gas is also an uncommon event in the natural history of Crohn's disease. Portal venous gas occurs when intraluminal gas from the gastrointestinal tract or gas-forming bacteria enters the portal venous circulation. The finding of portal venous gas associated with Crohn's disease does not always mandate surgical intervention. We experienced a case of Crohn's disease presenting with free perforation and portal venous gas. The literatures on the cases with perforation and portal venous gas associated with Crohn's disease were reviewed.
Adult ; Colonoscopy ; Crohn Disease/complications/drug therapy/*pathology ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Embolism, Air/*diagnosis/etiology ; Humans ; Intestinal Perforation/*diagnosis/etiology ; Male ; *Portal Vein ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVETo study the clinical features and treatment of pediatric Crohn's disease (CD).

METHODSClinical data of 10 children with active CD diagnosed between 2005 and 2013 were retrospectively reviewed.

RESULTSAbdominal pain, diarrhea, and bloody stools were the most common symptoms in these patients, usually accompanied by different degrees of growth retardation and nutritional disorders. Fever was the main extraintestinal manifestation. Enteroscopy showed discontinuous and segmental mucosal hyperaemia and erosion, cobblestone appearance and mucosal ulceration. Abdominal ultrasound revealed uneven and segmental thickening of the intestinal wall. The pathological esamination showed many lymphocytes, eosinophils and plasma cells infiltrating into the lamina propria and partial atrophy of mucosal gland. C-reactive protein (CRP) level was significantly lower in the remission stage than in the acute stage and the recurrence stage (P<0.05). The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was significantly lower in the remission stage than in the recurrence stage (P<0.05). Among mild cases identified by the pediatric Crohn's disease activity index (PCDAI) in the early stage of disease, the induced remission rate and maintained remission rate were 100% and 67%, respectively, with oral 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) and adrenocortical hormone. Among moderate and severe cases identified by the PCDAI, the partial remission rate was 100% with 5-ASA and adrenocortical hormone, but the maintained remission rate was not so good and the recurrence rate of disease was high.

CONCLUSIONSPediatric CD has no specific clinical manifestations and laboratory test results. ESR and CRP can be used as the markers for evaluating the disease progression. 5-ASA has certain efficacy in inducing and maintaining remission of pediatric CD. There is a certain correlation between treatment outcome and the PCDAI score in the early stage of disease.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Colonoscopy ; Crohn Disease ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mesalamine ; therapeutic use ; Prednisone ; therapeutic use ; Prognosis

Azathioprine (AZA) treatment in transplant or autoimmune patients and subsequent appearance squamous cell carcinomas at various sites, particularly skin and cervix, has shown a close relationship. However, it remains uncertain whether this is true for the patients with Crohn's disease. We report a case of squamous cell carcinoma of the breast occurred in a 35-year-old female with Crohn's disease taking AZA. She was first diagnosed with Crohn's disease 10 years ago and has taken AZA with 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) on regular follow up in gastrointestinal department for 9 years. She had no family history of breast cancer. She visited breast cancer clinic due to incidentally found right breast mass. A mastectomy on the right breast was performed and 6.3x5.5 cm mass was removed. The mass was microscopically proven to be poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma with focal keratin pearl formation. At age of 25, she was first diagnosed with active Crohn's disease. 5-ASA and corticosteroid induced remission. Then, steroid was tapered off and AZA was maintained at 1 mg/kg due to leukopenia at higher dose. She stopped taking AZA at her discretion during her two pregnancies and reported total of 67 months of AZA medication on her breast cancer diagnosis.
Adult ; Azathioprine/*therapeutic use ; Breast Neoplasms/*diagnosis/pathology/therapy ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/*diagnosis/pathology/therapy ; Colonoscopy ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Crohn Disease/*drug therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents/*therapeutic use ; Mesalamine/therapeutic use ; Positron-Emission Tomography

BACKGROUNDThere is little information of non-perianal fistulating Crohn's disease in the consensus published by the European Crohn's and Colitis Organization in 2006 and 2010. This study was designed to demonstrate the clinical characteristics of non-perianal fistulating Crohn's disease among homogenous Chinese population.

METHODSOne-hundred-and-eighty-four patients were retrospectively collected. All of these patients were diagnosed of Crohn's disease between February 2001 and April 2011.

RESULTSThe male-to-female ratio was 2.7:1. The most common symptoms at onset were abdominal pain (88.0%), diarrhea (34.7%), and fever (28.3%). The most common disease location and behavior at diagnosis were small bowel (56.0%) and penetrating (51.6%). Among 324 non-perianal fistulae, the most common types were ileocolonic anastomotic (30.9%), terminal ileocutaneous (19.7%), and enteroenteric anastomotic (11.4%). One-hundred-and-thirty- eight (75.0%) patients received antibiotics, and β-lactam (85.5%) and metronidazole (67.4%) are most frequently used. One-hundred-and-seventy-eight (96.7%) patients suffered 514 surgical operations, and the cumulative surgical rates after 1, 3, and 5 years were 38.0%, 52.2%, and 58.7% respectively. Nine patients died during the follow-up period, and the cumulative survival rates after 1, 3, and 5 years were 97.8%, 96.7%, and 96.2% respectively.

CONCLUSIONSThis study displayed the clinical characteristics of non-perianal fistulating Crohn's disease in our center. Large population-based studies are required for further investigation in China.

Adolescent ; Adult ; China ; Crohn Disease ; drug therapy ; mortality ; pathology ; surgery ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Glycosides ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Rectal Fistula ; drug therapy ; mortality ; pathology ; surgery ; Tripterygium ; chemistry ; Young Adult

Infliximab is a chimeric IgG1 monoclonal antibody to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha used in the treatment of steroid refractory or dependent Crohn's disease (CD). Patients with active CD are more likely to experience stillbirth, preterm labor, or small for gestational aged babies. The safety of administering infliximab in pregnant patients is not well documented. A 25-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with small bowel CD three years ago, was admitted to our hospital due to the aggravation of abdominal pain. She had been treated with mesalazine, azathioprine and intermittent steroid for three years. After admission, she did not respond to steroid therapy, we decided to try infliximab. After the administration of infliximab, epigastric pain was relived and Crohn's disease activity index score decreased significantly. However after the fourth infusion of infliximab, the patient became aware that she was ten gestational weeks old pregnancy state After then, infliximab was stopped and maintained by mesalazine. The patient gave birth to a healthy baby via normal vaginal delivery without the recurrence of CD. This case suggests that infliximab administration is safe during the early period of pregnancy. Thus, we report this case with a review of literature.
Adult ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/*therapeutic use ; Antibodies, Monoclonal/*therapeutic use ; Capsule Endoscopy ; Colon, Sigmoid/pathology ; Crohn Disease/*drug therapy/pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Mesalamine/therapeutic use ; Pregnancy ; Severity of Illness Index ; Term Birth ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Erythema nodosum is the most common form of septal panniculitis and the most frequent skin manifestation associated with inflammatory bowel disease, affecting up to 15% of Crohn's disease patients. Since the development of erythema nodosum is closely related with a variety of disorders and condition, it can serve as an important early sign of systemic disease. Here, we present the occurrence of erythema nodosum as an early sign of Cronh's disease in a 16-year-old woman.
Adolescent ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents/therapeutic use ; Azathioprine/therapeutic use ; Colonoscopy ; Crohn Disease/complications/*diagnosis/drug therapy ; Erythema Nodosum/complications/*diagnosis/pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Mesalamine/therapeutic use ; Prednisolone/therapeutic use ; Skin/pathology

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) colitis is common among immunocompromised patients, and often diagnosed by pathologic confirmation because it is associated with a diverse spectrum of clinical and endoscopic features. However, Crohn's disease has no definitive diagnostic criteria, but longitudinal ulcers and cobble stone appearance are accepted as typical endoscopic features of Crohn's disease. An 83 year-old male with a history of radiotherapy for hypopharyngeal cancer visited our hospital with a complaint of melena for 1 week. His colonoscopic exam showed multiple longitudinal ulcers along the entire colon. Most of the ulcers were longer than 4 cm, these endoscopic findings were suspected as typical endoscopic features of Crohn's disease. Pathologic reports revealed multiple inclusion bodies with CMV on immunohistochemistry. He was finally diagnosed as having CMV colitis, and received a 3 week-course of intravenous ganciclovir. A colonoscopic follow-up showed complete healing of the multiple longitudinal ulcers, and he is doing well now without further treatment.
Aged, 80 and over ; Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use ; Colitis/*diagnosis/etiology/pathology ; Colonoscopy ; Crohn Disease/diagnosis ; Cytomegalovirus Infections/*diagnosis/drug therapy/pathology ; Ganciclovir/therapeutic use ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Injections, Intravenous ; Male ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic progressive idiopathic inflammatory disorder that involves the digestive tract from the mouth to the anus. Over the past decades, many therapeutic strategies have been developed to manage IBD, but therapeutic strategies based only on relief of clinical symptoms have not changed the natural history of this disease entity. This underlines the importance of understanding the natural history of IBD itself. When we look at the natural history of Crohn's disease (CD), it first begins with inflammation of the intestinal mucosa and this inflammatory reaction proceeds to stenosing or penetrating reaction if not adequately controlled. However, it takes a considerable amount of time before mucosal inflammation proceeds to stenosis of the intestinal lumen or penetration into the adjacent bowel. Therefore, it can be expected that if proper care is given during that period, progression of CD to such a complicated disease could be prevented. Even though the concept of mucosal healing was introduced in the early 1990s, no correlation could be observed between healing of mucosal lesions and relief of clinical symptoms. However, the introduction of biologic agents targeting tumor necrosis factor has changed the way to treat IBD that is refractory to standard medications and has allowed us to aim for a new therapeutic goal, 'deep remission'. Further advances in biologic agents have provided highly effective treatments for IBD, making deep remission a realistic goal. Whether IBD patients may benefit by experiencing a 'deep' remission beyond the control of clinical symptoms need to be evaluated in further investigation. Nevertheless, it can be anticipated that attaining deep remission might ultimately have an impact on important outcomes such as the need for surgery and the quality of life.
Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/therapeutic use ; Antibodies, Monoclonal/therapeutic use ; Colitis, Ulcerative/drug therapy/metabolism/pathology ; Crohn Disease/drug therapy/metabolism/pathology ; Humans ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases/drug therapy/metabolism/*pathology ; Intestinal Mucosa/metabolism/pathology ; Mesalamine/therapeutic use ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/immunology/metabolism