Withdrawal of immunosuppressant or biologic therapy for patients with quiescent Crohn's disease.

CONCLUSIONS: The effects of withdrawal of immunosuppressant therapy in people with quiescent Crohn's disease are uncertain. Low quality evidence suggests that continuing azathioprine monotherapy may be superior to withdrawal for avoiding clinical relapse, while very low quality evidence suggests that there may be no difference in clinical relapse rates between discontinuing azathioprine from a combination therapy regimen, compared to continuing combination therapy. It is unclear whether withdrawal of azathioprine, initially administered alone or in combination, impacts on the development of CD-related complications, adverse events, serious adverse events or withdrawal due to adverse events. Further high-quality research is needed in this area, particularly double-blind RCTs in which biologic therapy or an immunosuppressant other than azathioprine is withdrawn. PMID: 29756637 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Cochrane Database Syst Rev Source Type: research