Topical therapy

Topical therapy with mesalazine and/or corticosteroids is the standard treatment for patients with distal ulcerative colitis. Rectal mesalazine is more effective than rectal systemically active corticosteroids or topically active corticosteroids like budesonide. In patients with mild to moderately active distal ulcerative colitis, topical mesalazine is therefore the treatment of choice. Doses of 1 g or higher are equally effective. The period of treatment is important (4 weeks are more effective than 2 weeks). In the case of nonresponse or nontolerability of rectal mesalazine, rectal budesonide is indicated. The standard dose of budesonide is 2 mg/day. This does not usually induce any corticosteroid-associated adverse events. Treatment with rectal mesalazine plus rectal topically active corticosteroids is even more effective than treatment with either substance alone. To overcome adherence problems with rectal therapy, rectal foam preparations have been developed which are usually better tolerated than enemas.