Cyclosporine Treatment for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The gastroenterologic world is so desperate for fresh approaches to the stubborn problem of inflammatory bowel disease that it will grasp at almost any straw. It is a measure of this desperation that the therapies recommended for ileitis and colitis have run the gamut from bacille Calmette–Guérin vaccination, transfer factor, and coherin, to vitamin A, thymectomy, and acupuncture. However, only four classes of pharmacologic agents have gained a strong foothold in the management of inflammatory bowel disease: sulfasalazine and related aminosalicylates, corticosteroids and ACTH, metronidazole and other antibiotics, and immunosuppressive agents. The optimal treatment, of course, would neutralize or eradicate.