Oral beclomethasone dipropionate in chronic refractory pouchitis

Pouchitis is the major long-term complication after ileal-pouch anal-anastomosis for ulcerative colitis. Ten to 15% of patients develop chronic pouchitis, either treatment responsive or treatment refractory.

To evaluate the efficacy of oral beclomethasone dipropionate in inducing remission and improving quality of life in patients with chronic refractory pouchitis.

Ten consecutive patients with active pouchitis, not responding to 1-month antibiotic treatment, were treated with beclomethasone dipropionate 10 mg⁄day for 8 weeks. Clinical, endoscopic and histological evaluations were undertaken before and after treatment, according to the Pouchitis Disease Activity Index (PDAI). Remission was defined as a combination of PDAI clinical score of ≤2, endoscopic score of ≤1 and a total PDAI score of ≤4. The quality of life was assessed with the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ).

Eight of 10 patients (80%) achieved remission. The median total PDAI scores before and after therapy were, respectively, 12 (range 8-14) and 3 (range 2-9) (P<0.001). The median IBDQ score also significantly improved from 120 (range 77-175) to 175 (range 85-220) (p<0.001).

Eight-week treatment with oral beclomethasone dipropionate appears effective in inducing remission in patients with active pouchitis refractory to antibiotic treatment.