Individualized treatment with infliximab therapy in children with Crohn's disease support shorter time intervals between infusions.

OBJECTIVES

To study the effect of an individualized treatment approach with regard to dosage intervals between infliximab infusions on the clinical outcome of pediatric Crohn's disease (CD).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A retrospective analysis of medical records of all pediatric patients with CD who had been treated with infliximab between 1999 and 2007 in two Swedish counties, where an individualized treatment approach had been applied.

RESULTS

Twenty-nine patients were included in the study. The number of infusions varied from 2 to 47 (median: 8). Nineteen patients received more than 5 infusions and 13 patients received more than 10 infusions. Most of the patients did not stay in remission when the dosage interval was 8 weeks or longer.

CONCLUSIONS

An individualized treatment approach, based on the physician's desire to treat, resulted in shorter dosage intervals than 8 weeks between infliximab infusions in a majority of pediatric patients with CD. The retrospective design of the study must be taken into account when interpreting the results.