Anti-TNF therapy may reduce the need for surgery during childhood

The Southampton Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (PIBD) research team have published an article in Alimentary Pharmacology + Therapeutics.

The study, including Professor Sarah Ennis (Human Genetics and Genomic Medicine group), Dr Enrico Mossotto (Human Genetics and Genomic Medicine group) and led by Professor Mark Beattie (Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology), demonstrated a significant reduction in the number of surgical resections during childhood for patients with PIBD. The first author on the study, Dr. James Ashton (Human Genetics and Genomic Medicine group + Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology), summarises the article- ‘The prevalence of anti‐TNF‐therapy has increased significantly over the last 10 years with a parallel decrease in surgical resection rates. Although this is just an association, anti‐TNF‐therapy may reduce the need for surgical intervention in childhood. However patients diagnosed at younger ages still underwent surgery during childhood, meaning that surgery is likely to be delayed to adulthood rather than avoided totally’.