THE USE OF INFLIXIMAB IN THE TREATMENT OF CROH'S DISEASE: A LITERATURE

Abstract

Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory disease that predominantly affects the lower part of the small intestine (ileum) and large intestine (colon), but can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract. Pharmacological treatment can be performed with immunobiological drugs, such as infliximab. Thus, the research aimed to review the effectiveness of pharmacological therapy using infliximab in the treatment of Crohn's disease. An integrative literature review (ILR) was carried out with the help of content analysis proposed by Bardin. The guiding question of the study was: “How effective is infliximab in the treatment of CD”. Literature was searched in the MEDLINE, LILACS and SCIELO databases, and the criteria used for the selection of literature were: complete studies in English and Portuguese, published from 2012 to 2022; and excluding paid and duplicate literature. After the searches, studies were selected, in which 80% (8) in English and 20% (2) in Portuguese, 50%(5) in MEDLINE, 30%(3) in LILACS and 20% (2) in SCIELO. Based on the selected studies, it was possible to observe that most authors ratify the efficacy of infliximab as a treatment for CD, mainly at moderate to severe levels of the disease, as it prevents the tumor necrosis factor from binding to its receptors and neutralizes the biological activity of the TNF-α, inducing remission of said disease.