APC News
International agreement reached on 'hard-to-treat IBD' definitions
Patients suffering from prolonged symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are commonly grouped as having ‘difficult-to-treat IBD’ that requires ongoing and particular treatment approaches. Until now, there has been no standard set of definitions around this which has hampered research and therapeutic strategies.
In an international meeting earlier this year involving participants from 12 countries a consensus agreement was reached on setting a core set of definitions based on 20 statements that address various aspects of IBD from treatment failure to specific patient complaints.
The outcomes of this agreement are detailed in a paper co-authored by APC’s Deputy Director Dr Subrata Ghosh and Dr Marietta Iacucci and published recently in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.
Commenting on this important progress, Dr Ghosh said: “This agreement now helps define 'Difficult to Treat Inflammatory Bowel Disease' internationally through a global consensus. This is important as such patients constitute a large unmet need urgently in need of finding new solutions. Our research at APC Microbiome Ireland focuses on finding new approaches to reduce the number such difficult to treat sufferers from Inflammatory Bowel Disease.”
