Topical Administration of 5-Aminosalicylic Acid: A Therapeutic Proposal for the Treatment of Pouchitis

To the Editor: "Pouchitis" is an inflammatory process of the ileal reservoir created by the ileoanal anastomosis performed after colectomy. 1 It is generally believed that pouchitis does not improve spontaneously. Therapeutic attempts with metronidazole have not yet been validated. 2 , 3 We studied 29 patients (22 male and 7 female patients) with a mean age of 28 years (range, 17 to 43) who underwent proctocolectomy and ileoanal anastomosis for ulcerative colitis (25 patients) or for familial polyposis (4 patients). Inflammation of the pouch developed in three patients (10.3 percent) — all of whom had ulcerative colitis — two to six months after . . . No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.