Surgery Vs. Medication: Which is Best For Ulcerative Colitis?

For patients with advanced ulcerative colitis (UC) over the age of 50, elective colectomy was associated with improved survival compared to long-term immunosuppressant therapy, according to a recent study.

“UC can be treated with surgery or medications. Patients often must choose between long-term immunosuppressant therapy or total colectomy. Whether one of these treatment approaches has a mortality benefit is uncertain,” explained the study’s authors.
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For the study, researchers evaluated 830 patients with UC who were pursuing elective colectomy and 7541 matched UC patients who were trying to use medical therapy.

Overall, mortality rates were 34 and 54 per 1000 person-years for elective surgery and medical therapy, respectively.

“Elective colectomy seemed to be associated with improved survival relative to medical therapy among patients aged 50 years or older with advanced UC,” they concluded.

-Michelle Canales Butcher

Reference:

Bewtra M, Newcomb CW, Wu Q, et al. Mortality associated with medical therapy versus elective colectomy in ulcerative colitis: a cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2015 July [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.7326/M14-0960.