ANN ARBOR, Mich., June 14 — A last-resort surgical treatment for ulcerative colitis triples the risk of infertility for female patients, according to researchers here.
Note that medical options for managing chronic moderate to severe ulcerative colitis have recently expanded and now include Remicade (infliximab).
For young women, note that this study suggests that the surgical option — colectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis — increases the risk of infertility by a factor of three.
Although infertility has been often reported anecdotally as a complication of colectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis, this study quantifies widely varying estimates, said Peter Higgins, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Michigan here.
The approval of Remicade (infliximab) for chronic maintenance in moderate to severe ulcerative colitis "has led patients and physicians to closely re-examine the risks and benefits of colectomy in comparison with medical therapy," Dr. Higgins and colleagues reported online in the journal Gut.
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