One more chance of fistula healing in inflammatory bowel disease: Stem cell therapy

Abstract

Patients with fistulizing inflammatory bowel disease are traditionally difficult to treat. This patient population often experiences delayed or insufficient healing of fistulas using current standard regimens including antibiotics, immunomodulators, anti-tumor necrosis factor-α drug, placement of setons, and surgical repair. Several studies over the last ten to fifteen years have been conducted using stem cell therapies with promising results in this patient population. These studies show stem cell therapy in fistulizing disease to be successful in healing between 60%-88% compared to currently 50% with infliximab. Moreover, remission was seen 24 wk to 52 wk in these studies. Further research with a multi-approach treatment using medications, stem cell therapy, and surgical interventions will likely be the future of this innovative treatment approach.