Infliximab as a bridge to remission maintained by antimetabolite therapy in Crohn's disease: A retrospective study.

Background: Infliximab withdrawal in patients with Crohn's disease on concomitant antimetabolite therapy is considered to be superior if obtained after a maintenance therapy period compared to induction alone.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the outcome of Crohn's disease patients treated with infliximab and an antimetabolite after infliximab was withdrawn using induction alone or induction plus at least 1-year of maintenance therapy. The time to relapse was analyzed using univariate and multivariate analyses. The model was adjusted according to the period of infliximab withdrawal.
Results: A total of 92 patients were included, 54 in the induction alone group. The patient characteristics were identical in the two groups except for the period of infliximab withdrawal. After a median follow-up period of 47.1 (interquartile range=4.4-110.2) months, 66 patients (72%) experienced a relapse. After a year-adjustment, no significant difference was observed between the two groups. Based on year-adjusted multivariate analysis, the risk factors for relapse were active smoking, previous antimetabolite failure, and perianal disease. After relapse, 53 patients (80%) were retreated with infliximab. After infliximab retreatment, clinical remission was observed in 47 patients (89%) at weeks 8-10.
Conclusion: In Crohn's disease patients, the probability of relapse on antimetabolite therapy after infliximab withdrawal was not superior after a 1-year scheduled maintenance therapy as compared with an induction alone.
(Copyright © 2014 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)