P648 Dietary therapy using a short course of Exclusive Enteral Nutrition followed by the Crohn’s Disease Exclusion Diet in children with mild to severe Crohn’s Disease; maintenance update on the DIETOMICS trial
Authors: Sigall-Boneh R , Manuel Navas-López V , Hussey S , Pujol Muncunill G , Lawrence S , Jonsson Rolandsdotter H , Otley A , Martín-de-Carpi J , Abramas L , Herrador López M , Egea Castillo N , Chen M , Hurley M , Wingate K , Olen O , Yaakov M , Wierdsma N , Van Limbergen J , Wine E 
Published: January 2024

Background

Exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) is the first-line treatment for active Crohn’s disease (CD) in children. CD Exclusion Diet (CDED) combined with Partial Enteral Nutrition (PEN) has demonstrated better tolerance with a comparable effect in inducing remission among children with mild to moderate CD. This study evaluated the effectiveness of 2 weeks of EEN followed by CDED+PEN for maintaining remission for up to 24 weeks in children with mild-severe disease.

Methods

We conducted an international, multicenter, randomized controlled trial comparing 2 weeks of EEN using Modulen®, followed by 3 phases of the CDED+PEN (hereafter CDED), to 8 weeks of EEN followed by PEN with a free diet (hereafter EEN), all extended up to week 24 with a follow up till week 52. Children aged 8-18 with luminal CD duration less than 3 years, mild-severe disease [pediatric CD activity index (PCDAI),15-47.5], and active inflammation [elevated C-reactive protein (CRP),or fecal calprotectin (FC)] were included. Remission was defined as PCDAI≤10. Stable immunomodulator (IM) treatment was allowed, and naïve patients could initiate IM from week 4.

Results

We randomized 56 patients into two groups: Group CDED (n=30) and Group EEN (n=26); mean age 12.7±2.4, 37% female. Intention-to-treat analysis revealed remission in 18/30(60%) patients with CDED compared to 11/26(42%) with EEN at week 24,p=0.18 and 27% in CDED and 23% in EEN at week 52,p=0.75. Per protocol analysis showed 18/20(90%) remission in CDED compared to 11/14(78%) in EEN at week 8, p=0.35. Among patients who achieved remission at week 8, 18/23(78%) with CDED and 9/14(64%) with EEN maintained remission up to week 24, p=0.15. In CDED,15/20(75%) and 100% of EEN used IM, p=0.04. All CDED patients without IM remained in remission. Reduction of &gt;50% in FC from baseline was obtained in 55% in the CDED and 28% in EEN, p=0.12. PCDAI improved from 31.2[20-35.6] to 5[0-12.5] in CDED and from 22.5[20-29.3] to 5[0-15.6] at week 24 in EEN, p&lt;0.001 to all. CRP and FC significantly improved in both groups. Z score BMI improved from -1.3 [-2.1-(-0.1)] to -0.2 [-0.9-0.4], p=0.003 in CDED and from 0.08[-1.1-0.4] to 0.2[-1.7-0.7] at week 24 in EEN,p=0.098. Remission at week 2 (p=0.006) and overall high compliance (p=0.009) were identified as predictors of response at week 24.

Conclusion

While 2 weeks of EEN followed by CDED+PEN was not superior to EEN at 14 weeks (as previously reported), extending CDED+PEN for 24 weeks successfully maintained remission for up to 52 weeks in children with mild-to-severe CD. Moreover, a subset of patients maintained sustained clinical remission following CDED monotherapy. The long-term implementation of dietary therapy using CDED+PEN resulted in a significant improvement in nutritional status.