Probiotic preparation VSL#3 induces remission in children with mild to moderate acute ulcerative colitis: A pilot study

✍ Scribed by Hien Q. Huynh; Jennifer deBruyn; Leluo Guan; Hugo Diaz; Meiju Li; Safwat Girgis; Justine Turner; Richard Fedorak; Karen Madsen

• Book ID: 102267911
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 150 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1078-0998
• DOI: 10.1002/ibd.20816

✦ Synopsis

Background:

Ulcerative colitis (uc) is a form of inflammatory bowel disease (ibd) that has periods of exacerbated symptoms and periods that are symptom-free. the treatment of active uc with probiotic bacteria could possibly induce remission. we evaluated the clinical efficacy and safety profile of probiotic preparation vsl#3 in the treatment of mild to moderate acute uc in the pediatric population.

Methods:

Eighteen eligible patients between the ages of 3-17 with mild to moderate acute uc received open-label vsl#3 daily in 2 divided doses for 8 weeks. the disease activity pre- and post-vsl#3 therapy was assessed by the simple clinical colitis activity index (sccai); mayo ulcerative colitis endoscopic score; inflammatory markers: erythrocyte sedimentation rate (esr) and c-reactive protein (crp); serum cytokine profiling; and rectal tissue microbial profiling done at baseline and at week 8.

Results:

Thirteen patients completed 8 weeks of vsl#3 treatment and 5 patients were withdrawn due to lack of improvement. remission (defined as sccai or=2, but final score

Conclusions:

Treatment of pediatric patients diagnosed with mild to moderate uc with vsl#3 resulted in a remission rate of 56% and a combined remission/response rate of 61%.