Customised Management of IBD

Prof Walter Reinisch, an international expert in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), travelled to Ireland last week to share his expertise with the specialist gastroenterology team in University Hospital Galway and at the GUT club in Dublin.

Prof Reinisch’s presentation, titled ‘Optimising the use of current treatment options in moderate to severe ulcerative colitis (UC)’, offered a valuable opportunity to gain insights from the substantial progress that he and his colleagues have made in treating and managing this condition.

In an interview with Irish Medical Times, Prof Reinisch outlined how the development of three key optimisation procedures had been central to his success in improving UC outcomes.

These treatment techniques, in tandem with major advancements in the development of anti-inflammatory drugs, have had life-changing consequences for some UC patients.  “In terms of treatment, the major breakthrough was the development of the biologics and the availability of the monoclonal antibodies, particularly the anti-TNF-alpha agents — currently we have at least three of them on the market,” he said.

In seeking to improve patient outcomes, identifying the severity and type of treatment required in a newly diagnosed patient was equally important to early diagnosis, Prof Reinisch maintained. His most recent paper, published in May of this year entitled Factors associated with poor outcomes in adults with newly diagnosed ulcerative colitis (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cgh.2014.03.037), reviews prognostic factors for adults with newly diagnosed UC and discusses which patients might benefit from rapid and progressive therapy.

View full article on Irish Medical Times