Copyright
©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Pharmacol Ther. May 6, 2017; 8(2): 131-136
Published online May 6, 2017. doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v8.i2.131
Published online May 6, 2017. doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v8.i2.131
Clinical and economic impact of infliximab one-hour infusion protocol in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases: A multicenter study
Anna Viola, Maria Cappello, Gastroenterology and Hepatology Section, Dipartimento Biomedico di Medicina Interna e Specialistica, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Giuseppe Costantino, IBD Unit, Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Terapia Medica, University of Messina, 98100 Messina, Italy
Antonino Carlo Privitera, IBD and PelvicFloor Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera per l’Emergenza, Ospedale Cannizzaro, 95100 Catania, Italy
Fabrizio Bossa, Gastroenterology Section, Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, S. Giovanni Rotondo, 75100 Foggia, Italy
Angelo Lauria, Gastroenterology and Endoscopy Unit, A.O. Bianchi-Melacrino-Morelli, 89100 Reggio Calabria, Italy
Laurino Grossi, Fisiopatologia Digestiva Ospedale Spirito Santo, 65100 Pescara, Italy
Maria Beatrice Principi, Gastroenterology Section, 70100 Policlinico Bari, Italy
Nicola Della Valle, Gastroenterologia, 75100 Ospedale di Foggia, Italy
Author contributions: Cappello M conceived the study and coordinated data collection; Viola A and Cappello M retrieved the data from their center, analysed the data and wrote the manuscript which has been approved by all authors; all authors contributed equally to the study design, collection of data and revision of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethical Committee of the Participating Centres.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal tutor, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interests. None of the authors have any financial or other relations that could lead to a conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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/
Correspondence to: Maria Cappello, MD, Gastroenterology and Hepatology Section, Dipartimento Biomedico di Medicina Interna e Specialistica, University of Palermo, Piazza Delle Cliniche 2, 90127 Palermo, Italy. marica.cappello61@gmail.com
Telephone: +39-091-6552280 Fax: +39-091-6552156
Received: September 5, 2016
Peer-review started: September 5, 2016
First decision: October 20, 2016
Revised: December 30, 2016
Accepted: January 16, 2017
Article in press: January 18, 2017
Published online: May 6, 2017
Peer-review started: September 5, 2016
First decision: October 20, 2016
Revised: December 30, 2016
Accepted: January 16, 2017
Article in press: January 18, 2017
Published online: May 6, 2017
Core Tip
Core tip: Infliximab (IFX) is a monoclonal antibody anti-tumour necrosis factor used in the treatment of moderate-to-severe inflammatory bowel diseases refractory to conventional therapy. It is usually administered i.v. at a dose of 5 mg/kg as a 2-h infusion. Shortening the infusion protocol to 1 h is equally safe and positively affects quality of life. This paper analyzes the impact of short IFX infusion on hospital resource utilization and costs, both in terms of time saving and increased infusion unit capacity. In addition, we provide evidence of indirect patient-related cost savings.