Intestinal Performance of Two Mesalamine Formulations in Patients with Active Ulcerative Colitis as Assessed by Gamma Scintigraphy

56 INTRODUCTION Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a collective term for the two conditions: Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Crohn’s disease is a transmural inflammatory disease that can affect the small intestine only (30%), the colon only (25%), or both the small intestine and the colon at the same time (40%). Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory disease of the colonic mucosa with no known cause, which affects in all cases the rectum and possibly more proximal regions of the colon. Mesalamine (5-aminosalicylic acid [5ASA]) is an anti-inflammatory agent and is an established treatment for IBD. The precise mechanism of action of mesalamine is not known, but it is generally agreed that its main effect is exerted topically at the site of inflammatory lesions. Maintaining high intra-luminal drug concentrations at the site of the lesions has been shown to be clinically important (1). Oral formulations currently on the market are designed to avoid significant Intestinal Performance of Two Mesalamine Formulations in Patients with Active Ulcerative Colitis as Assessed by Gamma Scintigraphy A SPECIAL ARTICLE