Inflammatory bowel disease in a condition that causes recurrent inflammation in the gut and consists of two conditions: Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. A small number of patients also suffer with a a chronic, inflammatory incurable condition of the liver called primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), and we refer to this combination of diagnoses as PSC-IBD. PSC-IBD is different to ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) which are the commonest forms of IBD. It usually affects only the right side of the large bowel and may not have ‘typical’ symptoms, which can lead to delays in diagnosis. Assessing disease activity and response to therapy is more difficult as a full colonoscopy may be needed. Doctors test to see if there is a protein called calprotectin in the stool. If present, it tells them there is inflammation in the gut, which helps to diagnose IBD. However, in patients with PSC-IBD, it is less accurate because of the liver disease. All these challenges may affect treatment decisions in PSC-IBD. This study is looking to explore the role of licensed treatment for inflammatory bowel disease in this group of patients with PSC-IBD.
With this project we will aim to harness the large dataset available in the IBD BioResource and compare differences in prescribing, response and side effects between those people with PSC-IBD and those with IBD alone. We hope that our findings will identify the safe and effective treatment options for patients with PSC-IBD, help support treatment decisions in clinic and inform future research projects. Overall we aim to improve the quality of life for people living with PSC-IBD.
