Both have been led by Dr. María Esteve, head of the Digestive Diseases Service of the Mutua Terrassa University Hospital and Dr. Ingrid Ordàs -of the Hospital Clínic and have focused on the most serious form of ulcerative colitis that does not respond to treatment with corticoids.



The studies have evaluated the evolution of more than 700 controlled patients at 25 hospitals in Spain adhering to the ENEIDA project (National Study on Intestinal Inflammatory Disease on Genetic and Environmental Determinants). The ENEIDA database, which is an initiative of the Spanish Working Group on Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis (GETECCU), currently includes data on more than 40,000 patients with IBD.



The first study shows that the two available rescue treatments (ciclosporin and infliximab) are equally effective and that they have a good safety profile and the second one evaluates the evolution of mortality and complications of patients operated on for severe ulcerative colitis.



The study shows that the main factor related to mortality is advanced age while medical treatment has a protective effect. A relevant fact is that there is a significant and constant reduction in mortality during the study period. In this sense, surgical mortality is practically nil, at this time, in most participating centers, being lower in centers with experience in the control of this disease.



These data reinforce the need to concentrate more complex patients in accredited centers, as pointed out in the "Strategic Plan on IBD" of the Catalan Society of Digestology. In this line we are working together with the Department of Health of the Generalitat of Catalonia and CatSalut.