Ulcerative Colitis

Research

Mayo Clinic is involved in clinical trials of many new medications being tested for IBD. Mayo Clinic serves as the coordinating center for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) clinical research alliance, a group of 70 medical centers testing new drug therapies for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's Disease.

Mayo is also conducting many studies in the local population, looking at questions such as:

• How common are fistulas?
• What are the effects on people from long-term steroid use?
• What is the incidence of osteoporosis and fractures in people taking these medications?
• Can some new blood tests more effectively diagnose IBD?

A Mayo Clinic researcher discovered that genetic differences significantly affected the way patients metabolized a widely used IBD drug, azathioprine and 6-mercaptopurine. Mayo Clinic researchers conducted the first clinical study of Asacol and have shown that nicotine is an effective therapy for ulcerative colitis.

The Division of Colorectal Surgery is well-known for pioneering new surgical techniques for inflammatory bowel disease. Members made substantial contributions to the use of the ileoanal pouch for ulcerative colitis and others in the department have developed minimally invasive surgical treatments for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

Several Radiologists are developing novel imaging techniques for IBD, including CT enterography and MRI enterography.

Publications

See a list of publications by Mayo authors on ulcerative colitis on PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine.