Published online Aug 9, 2018. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v8.i4.97
Peer-review started: March 29, 2018
First decision: April 10, 2018
Revised: April 22, 2018
Accepted: June 8, 2018
Article in press: June 9, 2018
Published online: August 9, 2018
Processing time: 133 Days and 18.7 Hours
Those patients with perianal Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis experience a difficult to treat disease process with a delayed state and often inability to heal despite current therapies. The approaches currently used to treat these patients with corticosteroids, antibiotics, immunomodulators, anti-tumor necrosis factor-α drug, and surgical repair are limited in their healing ability. This review presents all current literature since emergence in the early 2000s of stem cell therapy for patients with perianal inflammatory bowel disease and analyzes the efficacy, outcomes and safety within these studies.
Core tip: Allogeneic and autologous mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are being researched for use in patients with refractory perianal Crohn’s disease. Studies from 2003 until now demonstrate efficacy and safety of MSC therapy in this patient population. Up until now, there are no large multi-center, randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled studies examining this.