Efficacy of topical 5-aminosalicylate monotherapy in patients with ulcerative proctitis with skip inflammation

In some patients with ulcerative proctitis (UP), skip inflammation is noted in the right side of the colon, but little is known about its clinical course. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical course of UP with skip inflammation and the efficacy of topical 5-aminosalicylate (5-ASA) monotherapy.

This study reviewed the data of 388 patients with an initial diagnosis of UP from January 2005 to October 2015. This study matched each UP patient with skip inflammation 1:2 with controls who had UP without skip inflammation; to reduce bias, this study matched the controls with the cases by age, gender, and initial disease activity.

During the follow-up period (median: 69.5 months), the overall progression rates for the control group (n = 192) and the skip inflammation group (n = 96) were 24.0% and 32.9% at 10 years, respectively (log-rank P = 0.71). In the skip inflammation group, the progression rates were not significantly different between the 5-ASA combination group and the topical group, 33.4% and 26.6% at 10 years, respectively (log-rank P = 0.96). The overall acute exacerbation rates for the control and skip inflammation groups were 17.2% and 26.8% at 10 years, respectively (log-rank P = 0.68). In the skip inflammation group, the exacerbation rates were also not significantly different between the combination and topical treatment groups, 26.6% and 23.6% at 10 years, respectively (log-rank P = 0.88).

The clinical course of UP with skip inflammation was not different from that of typical UP, and topical 5-ASA monotherapy for maintaining remission was as effective as 5-ASA combination therapy irrespective of the presence of skip lesions.