RISK study reveals new precision medicine approach to Crohn’s and colitis
Researchers have successfully identified biological signatures in pediatric patients with newly diagnosed Crohn's disease (CD) capable of predicting whether a child will develop disease-related complications requiring major surgery within three to five years. The results of this research, "Prediction of complicated disease course for children newly diagnosed with Crohn's disease: a multicentre inception cohort study," have been published today in the high impact factor journal, The Lancet.
This groundbreaking work is the result of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation's "RISK Stratification" study, the largest new-onset study completed on pediatric Crohn's disease patients. It is a multicenter research initiative that consists of 25 U.S. institutions and three from Canada and a cohort of 1,112 CD children enrolled at diagnosis, of which 913 were included in the published study. Of the 28 research sites, four are located in Atlanta - Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Children's Center for Digestive Health Care. The goal of this research was to identify measurable indicators of the two most common complications in pediatric Crohn's disease that require surgery - stricturing and penetrating disease.