Evaluation of Therapeutic Strategy to Prevent Crohn's Disease Endoscopic poSToperatIve recurreNce Based on earlY Dosage of Faecal Calprotectin

Crohn's disease (CD) (\> 200,000 patients in France) is a chronic inflammatory disease that can lead to progression of intestinal destruction and impaired quality of life. Despite the widespread use of biotherapies, intestinal resections remain frequent (50% of patients over time). Unfortunately, surgery is not curative since 75% of patients experienced post-endoscopic operative recurrence (POR) (i.e., recurrence of ulcerations) during the first year after surgery. Prevention of endoscopic POR (defined as a Rutgeerts index ≥ i2) is essential because endoscopic POR is highly predictive of clinical POR (i.e., recurrence of CD-related symptoms): \> 40% and \> 80% within 5 years for a Rutgeerts index ≥ i2 or ≥ i3, respectively. The recommended management is to start treatment after surgery to avoid endoscopic POR, and to perform a colonoscopy at 6 months (M6) with therapeutic escalation if endoscopic POR. Despite anti-TNF or ustekinumab treatment, the endoscopic POR rate remains high (30-40% at M6) leading to \> 40% clinical POR despite therapeutic escalation (90 mg/4 weeks with ustekinumab) potentially due to late therapeutic escalation. Innovative strategies are therefore needed to prevent endoscopic POR, such as the use of fecal calprotectin, a non-invasive biomarker associated with endoscopic CD activity. We have previously demonstrated that its variation between surgery and M3 allows for a value at M3 predictive of endoscopic POR at M6. In this study, we hypothesize, for the first time, that a strategy integrating fecal calprotectin measurement at M3 with earlier therapeutic escalation (M3 vs M6) in case of abnormal value or kinetics could decrease the rate of endoscopic POR at M6.

NCT Number	NCT06972901
Lead Sponsor	University Hospital, Clermont-Ferrand
Conditions	Crohn Disease (CD), Ileocolic Resection, Post-endoscopic Operative Reccurence
Enrollment	42 participants
Start Date	2025-10-13
Primary Completion	2027-03-01 (estimated)
Study Completion	2027-03-01 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-06-05