[Home enteral nutrition for the maintenance of remission in patients with Crohn's disease--including comparison between Elental and Enterued]

Abstract

Therapeutic efficacy of Elental and Enterued as home enteral nutrition (HEN) for the maintenance of remission in 32 patients with quiescent Crohn's disease was studied retrospectively. Their cumulative rates of continuous remission and non hospitalization were statistically compared in relation to following five factors; type of disease, history of bowel resection, duration of disease, oral bile acid tolerance test (OBATT) and radiological lesion score (RLS). As to the cumulative rates of continuous remission and non hospitalization, there was no significant difference between two groups treated with Elental and Enterued. In patient with ileocolitis type, > or = 5-year history, and a high score of RLS, few cases could continuously maintain remission following a long-term HEN. Especially, patients with low absorption in OBATT had a significantly lower cumulative rate of continuous remission than those with normal absorption in OBATT. The present results suggest that above factors may be useful in the application of HEN to patients with Crohn's disease.