Abstract
Sixty patients who had presented recently with a relapse of mild to moderate ulcerative colitis with rectosigmoid involvement were randomly assigned to treatment with either 5-aminosalicylic acid enemas (N=29) or oral sulfasalazine (N=31). All patients were in remission, which was documented by clinical, histologic, and endoscopic criteria. Five-aminosalicylic acid treatment was administered on an intermittent schedule, consisting of 4 gm daily for the first seven days of each month; sulfasalazine was given as continuous therapy (2 gm daily as oral tablets). The study period was 2 years. Overall, 9 relapses occurred in the 5-aminosalicylic acid group and 12 occurred in the sulfasalazine group. The actuarial relapse rate at 12 months was 20 percent in the 5-aminosalicylic acid group and 24 percent in the sulfasalazine group; at 24 months, these rates were 37 and 43 percent, respectively. The actuarial relapse curves of the two groups were very similar. The relapse severity was also similar between the two groups. These results show that the authors proposed schedule of maintenance treatment with high-dose 5-aminosalicylic acid enemas is effective in subjects with rectosigmoiditis. This form of intermittent therapy may therefore be proposed for maintaining remission in patients who are refractory to oral and/or rectal treatment with sulfasalazine and steroids or who are intolerant or allergic to sulfasalazine. Treatment with 5-aminosalicylic acid enemas for seven days each month can also constitute an alternative for patients who favor the intermittent schedule over the classic continuous regimen of oral administrations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baron JH, Connell AM, Lennard-Jones JE. Sulfasalazine and salicylazosulphadimidine in ulcerative colitis. Lancet 1962;1:1094–6.
Dick AP, Grayson MJ, Carpenter RG. Controlled trial of sulfasalazine in the treatment of ulcerative colitis. Gut 1964;5:437–42.
Misiewicz JJ, Lennard-Jones JE, Connell AM. Controlled trial of sulfasalazine in maintenance therapy for ulcerative colitis. Lancet 1965;1:185–8.
Dissanayake AS, Truelove SC. A controlled therapeutic trial of long-term maintenance treatment of ulcerative colitis with sulfasalazine (Salazopyrin). Gut 1973;14:923–6.
Azad Khan AK, Howes DT, Piris J. Optimum dose of sulfasalazine for maintenance treatment of ulcerative colitis. Gut 1980;21:232–40.
Azad Khan AK, Piris J, Truelove SC. An experiment to determine the active therapeutic moiety of sulfasalazine. Lancet 1977;2:892–5.
Das KM, Eastwood MA, McManus JPA. Adverse reactions during salicylazosulphapyridine therapy and the relation with drug metabolism and acetylator phenotype. N Engl J Med 1973;289:491–5.
Watkinson G. Medical management of ulcerative colitis. Br Med J 1961;1:147–51.
Taffet SL, Das KM. Sulfasalazine: adverse effects and desensitization. Dig Dis Sci 1983;28:833–42.
Klotz U, Maier K. Therapeutic efficacy of sulfasalazine and its metabolites in patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. N Engl J Med 1973;303:1499–1502.
Campieri N, Lanfranchi GA, Bazzocchi G. Treatment of ulcerative colitis with high-dose 5-aminosalicylic acid enemas. Lancet 1981;2:270–1.
Surtherland LR, Martin F. 5-Aminosalicylic acid enema in the treatment of distal ulcerative colitis, proctosigmoiditis, and proctosigmoiditis, and proctitis. Gastroenterology 1987;92:1894–8.
Ireland A, Selby WS, Barr GD. Azodisalicylate for the treatment of active ulcerative colitis (abstr). Gut 1985;26:F45.
Campieri M, Lanfranchi Ga, Brignola C. High-dose 5-aminosalicylic enemas in the treatment of ulcerative colitis. Intern Med 1984;5:164.
Lanfranchi GA, Campieri M, Brignola C. Treatment of ulcerative colitis patients with high-dose 5-ASA enemas. Report of 2 years in an outpatient clinic (abstr). Gastroenterology 1984;86:1151.
Hanauer SB, Schultz PA, Kirsner GB. Treatment of refractory proctitis with 5-aminosalicylic enemas (abstr). Gastroenterology 1985;88:1412.
Hanauer SB, Schultz PA. efficacy of 5-ASA enemas for steroiddependent ulcerative colitis (abstr). Gastroenterology 1986;90:1449.
Barber GB, Lee DZ, Antonioli DA. Refractory distal ulcerative colitis responsive to 5-aminosalicylic enemas. Am J Gastroenterology 1985;80:612.
Friedman LS, Richter JM, Kirkham SE. 5-Aminosalicylic enemas in refractory distal ulcerative colitis. A randomized controlled trial (abstr). Gastroenterology 1985;88:1388.
Ireland A, Jewell DP. Comparative trial of olsalazine and sulfasalazine for maintenance treatment of ulcerative colitis in remission (abstr). Gastroenterology 1987;92:1447.
Dew MJ, Harries AD, Evans N. Maintenance of remission in ulcerative colitis with 5-aminosalicylic acid in high doses by mouth. Br Med J 1983;287:23.
Riley SA, Mani V, Goodman MJ, Her ME, Dutt S, Turnberg LA. Comparison of delayed-release 5-aminosalicylic acid (mesalazine) and sulfasalazine as maintenance treatment for patients with ulcerative colitis. Gastroenterology 1988;94:1383–9.
Biddle WL, Greenberger NJ, Swan JT, McPhee MS, Miner PB. 5-Aminosalicylic enemas: effective agent in maintaining remission in left-sided ulcerative colitis. Gastroenterology 1988;94:1075–9.
Truelove SC, Richards WCD. Biopsy studies in ulcerative colitis. Br Med J 1956;1:1315–7.
Baron JH, Connell AM, Lennard-Jones JE. Variation between observers in describing mucosal appearances in proctocolitis. Br Med J 1964;1:89–92.
Peto P, Pike MC, Armitage P. Design and analysis of randomized clinical trials requiring prolonged observation of each patient. II. Analysis and examples. Br J Cancer 1977;35:1–39.
Campieri M, Lanfranchi GA, Brignola C,et al. Retrograde spread of 5-aminosalicylic acid enemas in patients with active colitis. Dis Colon Rectum 1986;29:108–10.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
About this article
Cite this article
d'Albasio, G., Trallori, G., Ghetti, A. et al. Intermittent therapy with high-dose 5-aminosalicylic acid enemas for maintaining remission in ulcerative proctosigmoiditis. Dis Colon Rectum 33, 394–397 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02156265
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02156265