Joseph A. Gordon

Improving Care for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients Infected with Hepatitis B Virus

between the anti-TNF-a antibodies and the onset of thrombocytopenia, given the absence of other drugs with potential thrombocytopenic effect, and the complete mucosal healing, which would seem to reflect the anti-TNF-a action. It is well known that the ultimate treatment goal in the management of CD should be to modify the clinical course of the disease, and mucosal healing has been shown to be linked with reductions in hospitalizations and surgeries, as well as with long-term remission. In our patient, considering the mucosal healing, the clinical remission, his previous clinical history, and according to the literature, we tried to switch to a second TNF-a antagonist treatment, maintaining a close follow-up, without thrombocytopenia recurrence. Nevertheless this therapeutic approach should be evaluated case by case.