Clinical management of inflammatory bowel disease in the organ recipient

Core Tip

Core tip: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the organ transplant recipient population is an important clinical situation which is associated to higher morbidity and difficulty in the medical therapeutic management because of possible interaction between anti-reject therapy and IBD therapy. IBD course after liver transplantation is variable, but about one third of patients may worsen, needing an increase in medical therapy or a colectomy. About 30% of patients develop multiple IBD recurrence and 20% of patients require colectomy after renal transplantation. Like in the liver transplantation, anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha therapy could be an effective treatment in IBD patients with conventional refractory therapy after renal or heart transplantation.