New drug for Crohn's disease. (Colitis Club Quarterly).A new steroid therapy steroid therapy Therapeutics Treatment with corticosteroids to ↓ swelling, pain, and other Sx of inflammation. See Steroid. was recently approved by the FDA FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. for treating active Crohn's disease affecting the last part of the small intestine (called the ileum ileum: see intestine. ileum Final and longest segment of the small intestine. It is the site of absorption of vitamin B12 (see vitamin B complex) and reabsorption of about 90% of conjugated bile salts. ) and the first part of the large intestine (called the ascending colon). In five clinical trials, 48 to 69 percent of patients treated with Entocort EC (budesonide) capsules experienced significant clinical improvement after eight weeks. Recommended dosage is 9 mg once daily. The prescription drug (made by AstraZeneca) is released and metabolized in the intestines, reducing the potential for steroid-induced side effects. Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease inflammatory bowel disease n. Abbr. IBD Any of several incurable and debilitating diseases of the gastrointestinal tract characterized by inflammation and obstruction of parts of the intestine. of as-yet-unknown origin. Flare-ups of the disease may cause diarrhea, crampy abdominal pain, fever, and sometimes bleeding from the rectum. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion