Background/aims: Maximal duration of intravenous (IV) corticosteroid (CS) treatment and efficacy of cyclosporin A (CsA) have not been clarified for patients with severe ulcerative colitis. We aimed to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of CS and CsA combination therapy with prolonged CS therapy alone in patients with severe UC refractory to initial CS therapy.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 84 episodes of severe UC in 59 patients between April 1999 and May 2005.
Results: Among 84 episodes with IV CS therapy, 45 (53.6%) experienced an early response, while 39 (46.4%) did not respond within 2 weeks. The remaining 36 episodes excluding 3 which underwent colectomy were assigned to either combination therapy of IV CS and CsA or prolonged IV CS treatment alone for additional 2 weeks. Twelve of 16 episodes (75.0%) responded to therapy with combinations of IV CsA and CS, and 16 of 20 episodes (80.0%) to prolonged IV CS treatment alone. There was no statistical difference in response and colectomy rate after 4 weeks between CsA-use group and CsA-non-use group (p=1.00).
Conclusions: These results suggest that CS and CsA combination has no additional benefit over prolonged CS therapy alone in terms of short-term response and that CS can be safely prolonged even after the first 14 days of treatment for severe UC.