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The following is a summary of “Infliximab Trough Levels Are Associated With Endoscopic Remission in Small Bowel Crohn’s Disease,” published in the December 2024 issue of Gastroenterology by Han et al.    

Higher infliximab trough levels (ITL) are associated with better treatment outcomes for people with Crohn’s disease (CD), but there is limited study on the role of small bowel Crohn’s disease (SB-CD).  

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to explore the relationship between ITL and treatment outcomes in people with SB-CD.  

They involved 111 people receiving maintenance infliximab therapy for SB-CD. Endoscopic remission (ER) was assessed using double-balloon endoscopy, and the Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn’s Disease (SES-CD) and ITL were measured, and logistic regression analysis identified factors linked to ER.  

The results showed 42.3% (47 people) with ER. Median ITL was significantly higher in people with remission than those without (2.74 vs. 1.12 µg/mL, P<0.01). Multivariate analysis revealed that elevated ITL was independently associated with a higher probability of achieving ER (OR: 1.24, 95% CI: 1.08-1.43, P=0.003). The cutoff value for predicting ER with >80% specificity was 3.45 µg/mL, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.790. The AUC for predicting mucosal healing (MH) and ER were 0.767 and 0.759, respectively.  

They concluded that higher ITL was significantly linked to better treatment outcomes in people with SB-CD.  

Source: journals.lww.com/jcge/abstract/9900/infliximab_trough_levels_are_associated_with.390.aspx