Management of Relapsing Ulcerative Colitis

David P. Hudesman, MD: For managing patients with chronic ulcerative colitis, we start with induction therapy, meaning we put them into remission. Having them feel better is crucial, and eventually feeling perfect or in remission is the goal. Then, maintenance therapy is keeping them that way. When we are talking about the induction part, it’s picking the right therapy for the right patient. We want to make sure that they are not only feeling better, but their biomarkers are good; something like a C-reactive protein or a fecal calprotectin, is moving in the right direction. Eventually, when we repeat a colonoscopy, and in ulcerative colitis, I repeat colonoscopy about 6 months later to look inside and make sure they are healed. For the maintenance part of therapy, the key is that in the past, patients were feeling better, they were doing well, and they’d come back to see me when there is an issue. I think as we know now for many of our therapies, patients can lose response or potentially lose response over time. The key is, once somebody is in remission or has a great response, we want to monitor them to make sure they are continuing to feel that way and prevent them from all of a sudden popping into our office with a flare-up.

Transcript Edited for Clarity