Prof. Grazyna Rydzewska, head of the Gastroenterology Clinic with an IBD Treatment Subdivision at the Polish Mother and Child Hospital (CSK MSWiA) in Warsaw, and vice president of the Polish Society of Gastroenterology, talks about the treatment of patients with IBD.
IBD: The glories and shadows of the drug program
Published May 19, 2023 10:50
- Over the years we have been trying to increase the portfolio of drugs in the drug program. Right now there are almost all the drugs. We also have the option of treating until a response is lost - which is incredibly important, because we "don't jump" from drug to drug, we don't wait until the patient gets worse. We can treat according to the guidelines.
- What is not in line with the recommendations is the criteria for a patient to enter the program. We keep waiting until the patient is very seriously ill.
- If we could treat a step earlier - which probably wouldn't cost more, because we would treat more effectively, the patient would go into remission faster, they would come to the doctor less often, they wouldn't require additional procedures, all this could be avoided.
- What we are calling for now is a relaxation of the criteria to those of most European countries.
- Another issue is coordinated care for IBD patients at a single center and ensuring that the facility has adequate funding.
