Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 28, 2020; 26(36): 5437-5449
Published online Sep 28, 2020. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i36.5437
Transitioning patients with inflammatory bowel disease from hospital-based to rapid home-based infliximab: A stepwise, safety and patient-orientated process towards sustainability
Anuj Bohra, Qurat-Al-Ain Rizvi, Charlotte Yuen Yu Keung, Abhinav Vasudevan, Daniel R van Langenberg
Anuj Bohra, Qurat-Al-Ain Rizvi, Charlotte Yuen Yu Keung, Abhinav Vasudevan, Daniel R van Langenberg, Department of Gastroenterology, Eastern Health, Box Hill 3128, Victoria, Australia
Anuj Bohra, Abhinav Vasudevan, Daniel R van Langenberg, Eastern Health Clinical School, Monash University, Box Hill 3128, Victoria, Australia
Author contributions: Bohra A performed the acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, statistical analysis and drafting of manuscript; Rizvi QAA designed the patient questionnaires and performed acquisition of data; Keung CYY performed the acquisition of data; Vasudevan A provided critical revision of the manuscript; van Langenberg DR designed the study concept, performed analysis of data and critical revision of the manuscript; all authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee at Eastern Health as audit activity and the committee provided a waiver for informed consent. Reference number: LR 64/2017.
Informed consent statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee at Eastern Health as audit activity and the committee provided a waiver for informed consent. Reference number: LR 64/2017.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None declared.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Anuj Bohra, BMed, Doctor, Research Fellow, Department of Gastroenterology, Eastern Health, 3 West, 8 Arnold Street, Box Hill 3128, Victoria, Australia. anujbohra@hotmail.com
Received: May 28, 2020
Peer-review started: May 28, 2020
First decision: July 25, 2020
Revised: August 10, 2020
Accepted: September 5, 2020
Article in press: September 5, 2020
Published online: September 28, 2020
Core Tip

Core Tip: Home-based infliximab infusions are a potential avenue to address overburdened infusion centres, yet enhance patient convenience. However, this depends on more rapid infusions, minimal risk of reactions and at no increased cost. This study provides a safety-centric, how-to guide for transitioning from standard 2-h hospital-based to rapid 30-min home-based infliximab infusions. An additional layer of safety is provided by careful patient selection; this study found that lower body mass index (< 22 kg/m2), presence of extraintestinal manifestation (s), longer disease duration (> 3 years) and previous biologic exposure were associated with an increased likelihood of reaction (s) to rapid maintenance infliximab infusions.