Shimizu H, Fujii T, Kinoshita K, et al. - Intravenous tacrolimus was tested for treatment of acute severe ulcerative colitis and it was found that superior remission and colectomy-free survival rates were conferred by intravenous tacrolimus than oral tacrolimus. Both treatments had a similar safety profile.

• In a prospective cohort study, 87 hospitalized acute severe ulcerative colitis patients were included; 65 of those received intravenous tacrolimus and 22 received oral tacrolimus.

• For both treatments, response rates exceeded 50% but were not significantly different.

• Intravenous tacrolimus was associated with higher remission rate vs oral tacrolimus.

• At 24 weeks, there were similar relapse-free survival rates with oral and intravenous tacrolimus; however, higher colectomy-free survival rates were observed with intravenous tacrolimus vs oral tacrolimus.