Introduction: Collagenous colitis (CC) is a less common colonic disease with variable prevalence and undulating course. Among the available therapies, budesonide was demonstrated to induce a rapid and sustained remission in many cases, but little is known about the comparative efficacy of other treatments, such as mesalamine.
Areas covered: Evaluation of a randomized study assessing the efficacy and safety of budesonide over mesalamine in patients with CC.
Expert opinion: Data from the study showed that budesonide was significantly superior to placebo and to mesalamine and further supports the recommendation of the current guidelines on the use of budesonide in CC. However, other forms of mesalamine may further be evaluated for this disease.
Keywords: budesonide; colitis; collagenous; diarrhea; efficacy; internal medicine; mesalamine.