Ulcerative Colitis

Korzenik, both for patients who need pain relief and for their gastroenterologists, who are concerned with the safety of painkilling medications.

In the Mayo Clinic study, William Sandborn, M.D., and colleagues randomized 22 patients with The study found no significant differences: 3% of patients getting Celebrex had a disease exacerbation, compared with 4% in the placebo group.

11% of patients in each group had a bowel-related adverse event 5% of patients in the Celebrex group and 3% of patients in the placebo group withdrew because of adverse events.

The study has limitations, Dr.

Sandborn and colleagues noted.

The duration was short, it did not include patients who were in exacerbation, and patients in the study were on maintenance therapy with 5-aminosalicylate medications and/or azathioprine or 6-mercaptopurine.

Also, the researchers did not attempt to evaluate how well Celebrex worked for pain relief in these patients.

Several members of the study team are employed by Pfizer, which makes Celebrex.

In the European study, researchers led by Ingvar Bjarnason, M.D., of Sahlgrenska Un...

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