Growth Relapse and Outcomes With Therapy 1 (GROWTH1)

Pediatric Crohn's Disease is a life long disease , presenting early in life.As such , it is imperative to be able to evaluate the risk for more severe disease and poorer outcomes when making the decision which therapies to offer our patients. These decisions should be based according to longer-term disease outcomes, such as whether they prevent disease relapse or prolong remission [10-12]. However, for the most part, previous studies were not designed to yield predictive parameters that could allow a clinician to differentiate which patients are at a higher risk for relapse, or more likely to to have serious attacks or complications of the disease or therapy. The ability to predict these risks would impact dramatically the way CD patients are treated, allowing the clinician to tailor therapy, both type and intensity, to each patient's individual risk for relapse and outcomes.In the present first phase of the study , we will attempt to identify factors that predict relapse of the disease, focusing on the use of calprotectin at onset and after clinical remission, and on the use of anti-glycan antibodies, as well as disease severity, site and phenotype.