Background: Intravenous cyclosporine (iv CyA) is efficient in ulcerative colitis, but data are scarce in Crohn's disease (CD).
Patients and method: Patients with CD refractory to standard therapy who were treated with iv CyA.
Results: All patients with steroid-refractory disease achieved a complete response. In perianal disease, a complete response was attained in 3 out of 16 patients, while 9 showed a partial response. Only 1 out of 8 patients with enteric fistulae showed a complete response and a further one had a partial response.
Conclusions: Intravenous CyA seems to be useful in steroid-refractory CD but not in fistulizing CD.