Nicotine Enemas for Active Crohn's Colitis: An Open Pilot Study
Figure 1
Outcome measures. Response of 10 patients
with active Crohn’s colitis given 6 mg nicotine enemas daily for 4 weeks. Where 2 or 3 patients had the same baseline
and end values, this is indicated above the connecting line, which is drawn more boldly. CDAI is Crohn’s disease
activity index. Frequency is the number
of stools/24 hours. Urgency of
defaecation is graded: 0 = none, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate, and 3 = severe enough to cause incontinence. Sigmoidoscopic
score is graded 0, normal to 4, fulminant disease. Histological scores are based on acute
inflammatory activity: grade 0, no polymorphs to grade 4, florid acute
inflammation with polymorphs and ulceration.
Histology data is given for only 8 patients because the end-of-study
biopsies of 2, both with baseline scores of 2, were insufficient for
analysis.QOL is a score of quality of
life as measured by the short inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire [21].Paired data were available for CRP in 7 patients and for ESR in 8 patients.
