Patients with ulcerative colitis followed up on an outpatient basis tend to be well nourished. However, the nutritional aspects studied tend to worsen during the period of inflammatory disease activity.

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Background Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a systemic inflammatory disease and is classified as Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) depending on the extent of gastrointestinal tract involvement. IBD can be associated with extraintestinal findings, such as fever, weight loss, arthralgia, and mucocutaneous lesions, as well as hepatic, renal and ophthalmological involvement. Clinical parameters and colonoscopy are used to establish the criteria for controlled or non-controlled disease and subsequent definition of treatment. Our objective in the present study was to compare the area of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) in patients with a diagnosis of IBD during remission and active disease. Methods 144 eyes of 72 patients with IBD were evaluated via a complete ophthalmological exam. Fundus photography and optical coherence tomography/angiography (OCT/OCTA) were performed with a Topcon Triton. The macula and posterior pole were evaluated by binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy and fundus biomicroscopy. The area of the FAZ was determined via manual delimitation of superficial retinal vascular layers from OCTA with image6.net software. To establish disease activity, we considered the Mayo Score, fecal calprotectin levels, colonoscopy results and clinical parameters. All retinal parameters were evaluated in a blinded manner. Means were compared between groups using the Mann–Whitney test. Results The participants had a mean age of 42.26 years and included 28 males (38.88%) and 44 females (61.11%). Among the participants, 37 had a diagnosis of CD (51.38%), and 35 had a diagnosis of UC (48.61%). Twenty-five patients (34.72%) had active disease, and 47 (65.27%) were in remission. The area of the FAZ did not differ significantly between the CD and UC groups ( p = 0.91 for the right eye and p = 0.76 for the left eye) but did differ significantly between the remission and active disease groups ( p = 0.01 for the right eye and p = 0.02 for the left eye). Discussion Our study is the first to evaluate the area of the FAZ in patients with IBD via swept-source OCTA. The area of the FAZ did not differ significantly in either eye between the CD and UC groups. However, patients classified as having active disease according to clinical parameters and colonoscopy presented a significant decrease in the area of the FAZ compared with patients in remission. The area of the FAZ is an ophthalmological parameter that can be obtained non-invasively and is increased in ischemic diseases such as diabetic retinopathy. The FAZ may decrease due to vascular engorgement or increased systemic inflammation. This parameter can be used to help determine whether a patient is in remission or active IBD, thus potentially reducing the need for invasive exams during disease follow-up.

Background The effectiveness of ustekinumab (UST) in the treatment of Crohn’s disease (CD) has been demonstrated in the pivotal Phase 3 UNITI 1 and 2 and IM-UNITI studies in both anti-TNF-naïve and anti-TNF-exposed patients. Given the selective nature of pivotal trial designs, real-world effectiveness and safety studies are warranted. We report our experience with UST treatment in a large, real-world multicenter cohort of Brazilian patients with CD. Methods We performed a retrospective multicenter study including patients with CD, predominantly biologically refractory CD, who received UST. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients in clinical remission at weeks 8, 24 and 56. Possible predictors of clinical and biological response/remission and safety outcomes were also assessed. Results Overall, 245 CD (mean age 39.9 [15–87]) patients were enrolled. Most patients (86.5%) had been previously exposed to biologics. According to nonresponder imputation analysis, the proportions of patients in clinical remission at weeks 8, 24 and 56 were 41.0% (n = 98/239), 64.0% (n = 153/239) and 39.3% (n = 94/239), respectively. A biological response was achieved in 55.4% of patients at week 8, and 59.3% were in steroid-free remission at the end of follow-up. No significant differences in either clinical or biological remission were noted between bio-naïve and bio-experienced patients. Forty-eight patients (19.6%) presented 60 adverse events during the follow-up, of which 8 (13.3%) were considered serious adverse events (3.2% of 245 patients). Overall, a proximal disease location, younger age, perianal involvement, and smoking were associated with lower rates of clinical remission over time. Conclusions UST therapy was effective and safe in the long term in this large real-life cohort of Brazilian patients with refractory CD, regardless of previous exposure to other biological agents.

Calprotectin and lactoferrin are not useful for monitoring inflammatory activity in Crohn's disease patients who are subjected to biological therapy.