Review article: the management of severe ulcerative colitis.

Severe ulcerative colitis is a potentially life-threatening condition but the mortality has fallen dramatically over the past 30-40 years. It is now less than 2%, including surgical mortality, and should only be seen in patients with significant co-existing disease. Early recognition of the severity...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hyde, G, Jewell, D
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 1997
_version_ 1826281370923565056
author Hyde, G
Jewell, D
author_facet Hyde, G
Jewell, D
author_sort Hyde, G
collection OXFORD
description Severe ulcerative colitis is a potentially life-threatening condition but the mortality has fallen dramatically over the past 30-40 years. It is now less than 2%, including surgical mortality, and should only be seen in patients with significant co-existing disease. Early recognition of the severity of the colitis, intensive medical therapy, close liaison between physician and surgeon, and prompt surgery when necessary have all contributed to this improved outcome. Despite the use of high-dose intravenous corticosteroids, 20-30% of patients will make a poor response and will require urgent surgery. The use of intravenous cyclosporin has proved effective at reducing the immediate surgical rate in this group of unresponsive patients and appears safe. Whether cyclosporin reduces the need for surgery in the longer term is much less certain. Clinical, radiological, endoscopic and laboratory parameters can now be used to predict the course of a severe attack. These help in the timing of urgent surgery and are potentially helpful in determining when to begin other therapies such as cyclosporin.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T00:27:48Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:7ebbb5b4-1c5e-4b6f-8ec2-ebb66548c31d
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-07T00:27:48Z
publishDate 1997
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:7ebbb5b4-1c5e-4b6f-8ec2-ebb66548c31d2022-03-26T21:11:57ZReview article: the management of severe ulcerative colitis.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:7ebbb5b4-1c5e-4b6f-8ec2-ebb66548c31dEnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford1997Hyde, GJewell, DSevere ulcerative colitis is a potentially life-threatening condition but the mortality has fallen dramatically over the past 30-40 years. It is now less than 2%, including surgical mortality, and should only be seen in patients with significant co-existing disease. Early recognition of the severity of the colitis, intensive medical therapy, close liaison between physician and surgeon, and prompt surgery when necessary have all contributed to this improved outcome. Despite the use of high-dose intravenous corticosteroids, 20-30% of patients will make a poor response and will require urgent surgery. The use of intravenous cyclosporin has proved effective at reducing the immediate surgical rate in this group of unresponsive patients and appears safe. Whether cyclosporin reduces the need for surgery in the longer term is much less certain. Clinical, radiological, endoscopic and laboratory parameters can now be used to predict the course of a severe attack. These help in the timing of urgent surgery and are potentially helpful in determining when to begin other therapies such as cyclosporin.
spellingShingle Hyde, G
Jewell, D
Review article: the management of severe ulcerative colitis.
title Review article: the management of severe ulcerative colitis.
title_full Review article: the management of severe ulcerative colitis.
title_fullStr Review article: the management of severe ulcerative colitis.
title_full_unstemmed Review article: the management of severe ulcerative colitis.
title_short Review article: the management of severe ulcerative colitis.
title_sort review article the management of severe ulcerative colitis
work_keys_str_mv AT hydeg reviewarticlethemanagementofsevereulcerativecolitis
AT jewelld reviewarticlethemanagementofsevereulcerativecolitis