Oral immunoglobulin treatment in Crohn's disease

Two patients with severe Crohn's disease who failed to respond to traditional medical treatment were given immunoglobulin orally. We used the 6-h urinary recovery of a mixture of polyethyleneglycols PEG 400 and 1000 (molecular weight range 282-1250 Da) to test the intestinal permeability. Both patients showed a similar permeability pattern with an increased leakage of large-sized PEGs before treatment and a lower urinary recovery of probes after treatment with immunoglobulin. This might indicate that the inflammatory process in Crohn's disease can be affected from the luminal side of the mucosa.