Eugeni Domènech, Joan-Ramon Grífols, Ayesha Akbar, and Axel U Dignass World J Gastroenterol. 2021 Mar 14; 27(10): 908–918.

GMA is the only available therapy for UC directly targeting neutrophils. Two controlled, multicentre, European studies and a number of recent cases series found a potential therapeutic benefit of GMA in different clinical scenarios of UC with a still unmet need for optimal treatment. Moreover, GMA has an excellent safety profile and is perceived as a convenient procedure by patients, making this non-pharmacological therapy a suitable alternative or add-on therapy in UC, particularly for frail or comorbid patients.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7968132/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7968132/pdf/WJG-27-908.pdf

Satoshi Motoya ¹, Hiroki Tanaka ², Tomoyoshi Shibuya ³, Taro Osada ⁴, Takayuki Yamamoto ⁵, Hitoshi Hongo ⁶, Chiemi Mizuno ⁷, Daisuke Saito ⁸, Nobuo Aoyama ⁹, Toshihisa Kobayashi ¹⁰, Hiroaki Ito ¹¹, Satoshi Tanida ¹², Masanori Nojima ¹³, Seiichiro Kokuma ¹⁴, Eiji Hosoi ¹⁴ , BMC Gastroenterol 2019 Nov 21;19(1):196.

Background: The available information on granulocyte and monocyte adsorptive apheresis (GMA) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) under special situations remains unclear. We conducted a retrospective, multicentre cohort study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of GMA in patients with IBD under special situations.

Methods: This study included patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn’s disease who had at least one special situation feature and who had received GMA between November 2013 and March 2017. The incidence of adverse events (AEs) was compared in relation to the special situation, and patient background factors related to an AE were identified. For patients with UC, clinical remission was defined as a partial Mayo score of ≤2.

Results: A total of 437 patients were included in this study. The incidence of AEs among the elderly patients (11.2%) was similar in all patients (11.4%), whereas the incidences of AEs in patients on multiple immunosuppressant medications (15.2%), patients with anaemia (18.1%) and paediatric/adolescent patients (18.9%) were higher than that in all patients (11.4%). In multivariate analysis, anaemia and concomitant immunosuppressant medications were independently associated with the incidence of AEs. Clinical remission was achieved in 46.4% of the patients with UC.

Conclusions: The incidence of AEs in the elderly patients was not higher than that in all patients, whereas the incidence of AE was higher in patients with anaemia and those on multiple immunosuppressant medications than that in all patients. GMA is a safe treatment option in elderly patients with IBD.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31752695/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6873503/pdf/12876_2019_Article_1110.pdf