I'm not sure why anyone actually thought that this article was worth publishing, but then I ain't no editor for a prestigious medical journal. As far as I can tell, the point of the research was to prove whether "deep remission" due to Anti-TNF drugs resulted in a permanent cure for IBD. Well duh! They could have saved a lot of time and money by simply asking any IBD patient. Most of us are well aware that there is no cure for IBD, but apparently a few researchers are not yet aware of that fact.
Obviously spontaneous remission for an indefinite length of time is always possible, but medications probably have nothing to do with that, so this research simply proved what most of us already knew.Deep remission is increasingly touted as the ultimate goal of managing patients with Crohn’s disease, but new research indicates that even this trifecta of success—clinical, endoscopic and biological—does not guarantee continued remission if treatment with anti–tumor necrosis factor (TNF) therapy is discontinued.
‘Deep Remission’ May Not Protect Against Relapse Following Discontinuation of Anti-TNF Agents
The bottom line is, there is no cure, so as every member of this discussion board already knows, the treatment has to be continued forever in order to avoid a relapse of symptoms. If only all medical professionals understood that simple fact.
Tex