Combination biological therapy for fistular Crohn's disease: Clinical demonstration

Abstract

Perianal fistulas are the most common and frequently encountered types of fistulas in Crohn's disease (CD). They are incurable, may worsen quality of life in a patient and increase the risk of total bowel resection. Despite the significant impact of biological (anticytokine) therapy for fistular CD, treatment in this category of patients remains a difficult task with the high risk of recurrent CD. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) having immunomodulatory properties and a great regenerative potential are currently also used to treat fistulas in CD and perianal fistulas of another etiology. The given clinical case demonstrates that complete fistula healing could be achieved only after a few local administrations of MSCs in combination with infliximab and azathioprine. World and our experiences indicate that there is a need for randomized controlled trials with a sufficient number of patients to prove the efficacy of MSCs in the combination therapy of fistulas in CD.

Keywords

• crohn's disease
• infliximab
• fistular form
• mesenchymal stromal cells