Are Surgical Rates Decreasing in the Biological Era In IBD?

Abstract

Crohn’s Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC), known as Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD), are multifactorial, potentially debilitating diseases with probable genetic heterogeneity and unknown etiology. During the disease course of IBD, periods of inflammatory activity alternate with periods of remission. Severe complications in IBD often result in surgery. In the last two decades, major advances in medical treatment have changed the management of IBD. The advent of monoclonal antibodies targeting cytokines and adhesion molecules has brought a revolution in the treatment of IBD refractory to conventional therapy. However, it is not well established if these treatments could influence the long-term course of the diseases and the need for surgical treatment, though they have no severe adverse effects and improve quality of life. It has been shown that in the era of biologic agents, there has been a relative reduction in surgery rate for mild disease presentation, while the incidence of emergency or urgent surgery both for CD and UC remains unmodified. We summarized key data about current surgical rates in IBD after the advent of biologic agents.