Key for IBD: Early Diagnosis and Prevention with Jean-Frederic Colombel

Researcher Jean-Frederic Colombel has studied Inflammatory Bowel Disease treatment (IBD) for about forty years.

He explains for listeners

• What complications occur with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, which are included in the IBD designation;
• Why IBD can be brought into remission but is not considered cured; and
• How researchers are studying this autoimmune disease to understand causes and prevention.

Jean-frederic Colombel is a professor of medicine and gastroenterology with the Feinstein IBD Clinical Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He came to Mount Sinai about 10 years ago and had been researching in Lille, France. He tells listeners how treatment of this autoimmune disease has progressed over 40 years and what scientists are still trying to understand.

He explains that even though doctors are able to bring patients into deep remission with current inflammatory bowel disease treatment where they have no symptoms and show a perfect colonoscopy, there is not a real cure. As soon as they stop taking the medications, the disease makes headway. Since coming to Mount Sinai, he's worked on better predication and prevention measures. 

He tells listeners that Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis overlap and differ. For example, medications that work for one also often work for the other.  Differences include how much of the digestive tract and layers of the bowel are being affected. Crohn's disease, for example, can result in a fistula—basically a "communication" or opening and track across the perennial area. They can result in painful abscesses and difficult day-to-day symptoms. 

He then addresses known causes and describes how much is unknown. IBD is a young person's disease, often showing up around age 25, and early diagnosis is key to preventing complications. He describes studies to better understand the disease, such as a large scale serum sample collection of the U.S. Army to look at biomarkers, as well as treatment efforts beyond drugs such as fecal transplants to microbiome alterations. 

For more see his page at Mount Sinai: mountsinai.org/profiles/jean-frederic-colombel.

Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK