Long-Term Clinical and Endoscopic Outcomes of Crohn's Disease Following Liver Transplantation: A Multicenter Cohort...

Patients with Crohn's disease (CD) may require liver transplantation (LT) due to advanced liver diseases, including primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), autoimmune hepatitis, or other etiologies. However, data on CD activity and the use of advanced therapies following LT are limited. This study aimed to assess CD activity before and after LT and to evaluate the use of advanced therapies in this setting. Methods: In this multicenter retrospective cohort study, we analyzed 40 patients with CD who underwent LT between 2000 and 2022 at four university hospitals in Germany. Clinical and endoscopic disease activity, as well as the use of advanced therapies, were evaluated before and after transplantation. Results: Before LT, 89.7% of patients were in clinical remission, which remained stable after LT (85.7%; p = 0.650). Nevertheless, 22.6% of these patients demonstrated moderate to severe mucosal inflammation on endoscopy during long-term follow-up. The use of advanced therapies remained low after transplantation (pre-LT: 11.7%, post-LT: 7.5%; p = 0.532) even among those with endoscopic disease activity. Conclusions: Although clinical remission of CD is usually maintained following LT, endoscopic evidence of persistent mucosal inflammation is common and may be underrecognized. Despite this, advanced therapies are not frequently used in the post-transplant setting. These findings suggest that individualized treatment strategies are needed to address subclinical disease activity while balancing therapeutic effectiveness with transplant-specific risks.