[Therapy of Cronh's disease in the acute stage, using ornidazole (Tiberal). Preliminary results]

9 patients with acute exacerbations of Crohn's disease were treated over 2.5 months or longer with ornidazole (nitroimidazole). While 3 patients showed no response at all to 5 cycles of ornidazole treatment, 6 patients improved markedly within 2-3 months. In all but 1 patient, the improvement lasted during long-term therapy (average 9 months). Therapy was discontinued in 5 of these patients after 2.5-14 months; 2 patients had severe recurrences within 2-10 weeks, while 3 patients remained well during the follow-up (average 4.7 months). Ornidazole appears to be a promising alternative to steroid therapy in acute exacerbations of Crohn's disease and to deserve further evaluation by a double-blind study.