Tolerability of one hour 10 mg/kg infliximab infusions in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

BACKGROUND AND AIM

In patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) tolerating 2-h infusions of 5mg/kg infliximab scheduled maintenance therapy, the infusion time can be shortened to 1-h with good tolerability. The tolerability of one 1-hour 10 mg/kg infliximab infusion in patients with IBD is unknown.

METHODS

Between August and September 2011, 8 patients received one 1-hour 10mg/kg infliximab infusion. All patients were treated in our infusion unit under standard operating procedures. Intravenous steroid premedication was given to all patients. These 8 patients were compared to 26 IBD patients who received one 1-hour 5mg/kg infliximab infusion during the same study period at Nancy University Hospital. The charts of these 34 patients were reviewed to assess tolerability of 1-hour infliximab infusions.

RESULTS

A total of 34 patients with IBD on infliximab maintenance therapy (82.4% Crohn's disease, 17.6% ulcerative colitis; 22 females) received one 1-hour 5 or 10mg/kg infusion. Four patients were receiving concomitant immunomodulators. No severe infusions reactions were reported in the 34 IBD patients. Two mild acute reactions (7.7%) and two delayed reactions (7.7%) occurred in the 5mg/kg infliximab group. We did not observe any acute or delayed infliximab reactions in the 10mg/kg patients group.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with inflammatory bowel disease receiving infliximab scheduled maintenance therapy, 1-hour infusion time for 10mg/kg infliximab appears to be well tolerated. Large prospective studies are needed to confirm our findings.