Introduction

Crohn's disease (CD) is a heterogeneous condition with potentially complicated course. We aimed to evaluate the rates and risk factors for complicated disease course within a real-world, prospective inception cohort of patients with newly diagnosed CD (ndCD).

Aims & Methods

This prospective, longitudinal cohort study included adults with ndCD managed at a tertiary referral center. Treatment decisions were made at the discretion of the treating physician. The key outcomes were: (1) complicated-disease course - defined as CD-related hospitalization, surgery, steroid dependency, or the use of ≥2 biologics; (2) extra-complicated disease course - defined as recurrent or prolonged hospitalization (>5 days), multiple perianal procedures, intestinal resection, steroid dependency, or the use of ≥3 biologics; and (3) phenotype progression. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to assess rates of complicated course over 5 years, and multivariable Cox regression models were applied to identify baseline risk factors.

Results

A total of 192 patients with ndCD were enrolled; 70% presented with an inflammatory phenotype (B1) (see Table 1). Overall, 150 patients (78.1%) were recommended to start biologic therapy, with half receiving this recommendation within 4.1 months (95% CI: 2.1-6.3) from diagnosis. Of these, 134 patients (89.3%) initiated treatment - 50% within 6 months and 63.6% within 12 months. Cumulative outcome rates at 1, 3, and 5 years post-diagnosis were: complicated course - 24.2%, 35.9%, and 51.3%, respectively; extra-complicated course - 15.6%, 20.5%, and 29.0%, respectively; phenotype progression - 1.6%, 5.5%, and 10.6%, respectively. In a multivariable analysis, patients with a progressive phenotype (B2/B3) at diagnosis had significantly increased risk for complicated (HR 3.3, 95% CI:2.0-5.7) and extra-complicated (HR 6.7, 95% CI:3.1-14.4) disease course. Additional risk factors included elevated inflammatory markers and disease extent at diagnosis. We further analysed the subgroup of 33 patients with a B1 phenotype (~25% of those with a B1 phenotype) who were not recommended biologic therapy by their treating physician. In this subgroup, the complicated course was markedly low, 3.0%, 6.3%, and 11.5% at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively, and none developed an extra-complicated course. Notably, this subgroup exhibited significantly lower inflammatory indices (CDAI, HBI, CRP, and fecal calprotectin) at diagnosis compared to patients for whom biologics were recommended (all p<0.001).

Table 1:

Conclusion

In this real-world cohort, applying a best-practice treatment approach, over half of patients with ndCD experienced a complicated course within five years, primarily those with a progressive phenotype at diagnosis. Notably, a subset of patients with an inflammatory phenotype and low inflammatory burden had favorable long-term outcomes without biologics, underscoring the importance of early risk stratification to guide individualized treatment strategies.

Introduction

Few studies have evaluated the efficacy of butyric acid in treating children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Aims & Methods

In children and adolescents with recently diagnosed IBD, the purpose of this research was to assess the efficacy of oral sodium butyrate as an adjunct to conventional treatment.This trial was unicentric, prospective, randomised, and placebo controlled. 150 mg sodium butyrate single dose (group A) or a placebo (group B) were randomly assigned to patients with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease aged 7–18 years who were receiving conventional medication based on the severity of their conditions. Disease activity, C-reactive protein (CRP), and faecal calprotectin concentration differences between the two study groups at 12 weeks of the trial were the main outcomes.

Results

With 44 patients in group A and 44 in group B, 88 individuals with initially active illness finished the research. Most patients experienced remission by week 12 of the study (36 patients in Group A with sodium butyrate-82%, and 11 patients in Group B with placebo-48%). Between the two groups, a significant difference in disease activity was seen (p = 0.001), with a signifigant higher percent of cases in remission among those from lot A that received sodium butirate compared to placebo. The sodium butyrate group appeared to have less systemic inflammation than the other group, as evidenced by the significantly lower CRP levels in Group A (18.14 ± 11.19 mg/L) compared to Group B (57.00 ± 33.28 mg/L) at 12 weeks (T2) (P < 0.001). No negative effects were recorded by any of the patients. Fecal calprotectin in Group A dropped much more after 12 weeks (T2) (P < 0.001), suggesting that the sodium butyrate group was better able to regulate intestinal inflammation.

Conclusion

In newly diagnosed children and adolescents with IBD, a 12-week sodium butyrate supplementation did demonstrate effectiveness as an additional treatment and decreased the rate of relapsing cases.

Disclosure

Nothing to disclose

Introduction

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is a treatment that delivers 100% oxygen in a pressurized chamber. HBOT enhances tissue oxygenation and neovascularization and proved clinical efficacy in chronic wounds, post-radiation proctitis and enteritis, perianal fistulizing Crohn’s disease, and acute severe ulcerative colitis. Refractory ulcerative colitis (UC) remains a major therapeutic challenge.

Aims & Methods

We evaluated the tolerability, preliminary efficacy, and mechanistic effects including perfusion kinetics measured with intestinal ultrasound (IUS) of 10 and 20 sessions of HBOT in patients with UC. PARADOX was an investigator-initiated, prospective, open label, uncontrolled, dose-finding pilot trial (phase 2a) in biologic-experienced patients with moderate-to-severe, highly refractory UC with a follow-up of 26 weeks (Mayo score >5, MES ≥2, failed ≥2 classes advanced therapies). Patients (n=16; 8 per arm) continued optimized, stable dose background therapy and received 10 or 20 sessions HBOT (2.4 ATA, 120 minutes per day with two 5-minute air breaks). The primary efficacy outcome was predefined composite clinical and endoscopic response (3-point and 30% decrease in Mayo score, RB = 0 and 1-point decrease in MES) at week (W) 12. Other outcomes included tolerability; clinical, symptomatic, endoscopic, and biochemical response, and transmural response assessed by IUS including contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to evaluate bowel wall thickness (BWT), vascularity and perfusion kinetics. Endoscopy and IUS were centrally read and adjudicated.

Results

Baseline characteristics were comparable in both cohorts with median age: 48 vs 64 years; disease duration: 12 vs 9 years; ≥4 prior advanced therapies: 3/8 in both; Mayo score: 10.5 vs 9.
At W12, the predefined composite clinical and endoscopic response rate was met in 2/8 patients with 10 sessions and 4/8 patients with 20 sessions. Clinical, endoscopic, symptomatic, biochemical, and IUS parameters all improved over time in both HBOT cohorts with a trend towards larger improvement after 20 compared to 10 sessions (See Table).
At W12, clinical responders demonstrated a significant increase in peak enhancement on CEUS compared to baseline (12.1 dB, 95% CI: 0.8 to 34.3), while non-responders showed a numerical decrease (–5.4 dB, 95% CI: –20.9 to 4.0). This divergent trajectory was consistent across perfusion parameters related to both wash-in and wash-out (e.g., time to peak, wash-in and wash-out rate, area under the curve), suggesting a treatment-related vascular response. In contrast, early gains in non-responders had waned by W12. This effect was numerically larger after 20 sessions, supporting a potential dose–response effect.
HBOT was well tolerated with no dose-limiting toxicities.

Conclusion

HBOT is a feasible adjunctive therapy in treatment-refractory moderate-severe UC. CEUS showed improved intestinal perfusion in HBOT responders, which offers promising non-invasive tools for response assessment. These findings provide a rationale for a randomized dose-optimized phase 2 trial with potentially longer duration of treatment.

Introduction

A decade ago, endoscopic surveillance (ES) for Barrett’s oesophagus (BO) was recommended to improve the outcome of oesophageal adenocarcinoma through early recognition and prevention¹. The yield of ES to detect dysplasia may depend on guideline adherence and quality of endoscopy^2,3,4.

Aims & Methods

The aim is to assess whether dedicated (expert) ES (DS) is more effective than conventional (non-dedicated) ES (NS) by means of Key Performance Indicators (KPI), Dysplasia Detection Rate (DDR), use of advanced imaging and complication rate.
This multicentre (5 UK hospitals) retrospective study includes real-world ES data from 1303 procedures conducted within the last 8 years. The endoscopy and histology reports and clinical notes of consecutive procedures were accessed. The data were collected in spreadsheets and then analysed with SPSS-23. Two services were reported demographically and compared with appropriate statistical tests and logistic regression to test factors associated with DDR.

Results

Data from 680 DS and 623 NS procedures were included, comprising 906 (69.5%) males and 397 (30.5%) females (M:F=2.3:1.0). The age ranged from 14-90 yrs with a mean of 63.7 (SD±12.5) yrs. The maximum length of the BO was 18 cm with a mean of 4.1 cm (SD±3.0). There were significant differences in all the KPIs (Prague classification, Barrett’s island description, hiatus hernia delineation, visible lesion documentation, Paris classification, Seattle protocol adherence and inspection time) favoring the DS (P<0.001). Other comparisons: narrow band imaging (NBI, P<0.001), acetic acid chromoendoscopy (AAC, P<0.001), sedation (P=0.02) and acquisition of target biopsies (, P<0.001) were also significantly higher in DS while the complication rate was significantly lower (P=0.05). Importantly, the DDR was significantly higher in DS (58/680 (8.5%)) than in NS (16/623 (2.6%)) with a P<0.001. Regression analysis showed: increasing age, male sex, lesion description and Paris classification documentation were associated with higher DDR (Table 1), while other indicators showed no significant association.

Table 1. Factors associated with dysplasia detection

Conclusion

Surveillance for BO through a dedicated service with high quality endoscopy can produce a higher diagnostic yield with improved DDR and a lower complication rate. Given these benefits, large-scale prospective studies are warranted to assess the true impact on mortality, morbidity, cost benefit and patient-reported outcomes, ensuring that surveillance service provides a meaningful clinical benefit, particularly with risk stratification concerning the factors associated with disease progression.

References

1. Fitzgerald et al. (2013). BSG guidelines on Barrett’s oesophagus. Gut, 63(1), 7–42. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2013-305372.
2. Britton et al. (2019). Improving accuracy in Barrett’s surveillance. Frontline Gastroenterol, 10(2), 128–134. doi:10.1136/flgastro-2018-101019.
3. Ratcliffe et al. (2023). Surveillance service improves dysplasia detection. Frontline Gastroenterol, 15(1), 21–27. doi:10.1136/flgastro-2023-102425.
4. Ratcliffe et al. (2023). Dedicated Barrett’s surveillance vs. standard care. iGIE, 3(1), 58–65. doi:10.1016/j.igie.2023.11.003.