Does length really matter?... Oral and topical 5-aminosalicylic acid therapy for ulcerative colitis

In summary, there appears to be no major advantage to the use of an 8-week topical 5-ASA induction regimen over a 4-week induction regimen. The differences shown are not statistically significant, but these negative results may have suffered from underdosing of the study medication, not providing an optimal maintenance regimen, and not studying a sufficient number of patients. As of now, there is no proven advantage to justify the expense and discomfort of topical 5-ASA therapy beyond a 4-week induction of remission regimen for UC.