Adalimumab and azathioprine in the prevention of postoperative crohn’s disease recurrence

• Main Authors: A. V. Poletova, M. V. Shapina
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Remedium Group LLC 2020-10-01
• Series: Медицинский совет
• Subjects: crohn’s disease; relapse; treatment; adalimumab; azathioprine
• Online Access: https://www.med-sovet.pro/jour/article/view/5836

Introduction. Despite improvements in earlier diagnosis and the development of conservative therapy for Crohn’s disease (CD), approximately 70%–80% of patients undergo surgical treatment for complications. Surgical treatment is not a cure for this disease. The question of choosing therapy as a prevention of postoperative relapse of CD is still open. AIM. To compare the effectiveness of immunosuppressive and biological therapy as a postoperative preventive therapy.Materials and methods. The retrospective study included 125 patients with CD who underwent surgery in terms from 2010 to 2017. After the operation, patients were divided into 3 groups. Patients from the first group received azathioprine, from the second - adalimumab, and patients from the third group were prescribed combined therapy with azathioprine and adalimumab. Clinical, endoscopic, and laboratory data for analysis of disease activity was collected 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery.Results. During the year of therapy in all three groups relapses occurred in only 22 patients (22/125 17.6%). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups at any of the assessment stages. There was also no statistically significant correlation between the presence of risk factors and relapses.Conclusion. Our research has shown that the choice of anti-relapse therapy depending on risk factors is controversial. However, active endoscopic monitoring is important regardless of the treatment strategy. Also, our data allow us to conclude that the frequency of relapses of CD during the postoperative preventive therapy does not depend on the specific drug chosen, as well as on demographic and anamnestic parameters.