COMPARISON AND EVALUATION OF TACROLIMUS VS STEROID THERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE IN ACTIVE PHASE

Background:-The aim of the study is to compare and evaluate the efficacy and safety of short-term outcomes of tacrolimus in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients who were not concomitantly receiving other immunosuppressive therapies by carrying out an observational prospective study of tacrolimus (TAC) v/s corticosteroid (CS) therapy in the treatment of IBD in active phase, to prevent patient from long term use of CS by reducing the incidence rate of flare. To use TAC as a step-up approach in IBD by early induction of remission and maintain it for longer period which reduces re-hospitalization and surgery rate hence improving quality of life.

Method And Material:-The study was conducted in gastroenterology department, Princess Esra hospital, Hyd. 50 patients were enrolled based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria, allocated in 2 groups receiving CS and TAC respectively for 10 days. Follow-ups were done and at the end of 2 months, again a colonoscopy was performed to assess the effectiveness of the treatment.

Results:-At an initial therapy of 2 months, clinical remissions were observed in most of the patients of both the groups. After six months of treatment, TAC showed 100% remission rate while 20% patients on CS have shown flare.

Conclusion:- prolongs period of remission, and prevents the long-term use of CS thereby preventing its complications proving step-up to be a better approach towards the management of IBD. This study concludes that the efficacy and safety profile of TAC was overall favorable, and the doses were well tolerated by most of the patients.