Medical Pharmacology: Gastrointestinal Pharmacology Practice Questions
Choose the correct answer for each question.
Cyclosporine (Neoral, Sandimmune and others):
Inhibits calcineurin
Powerful immunomodulator
Both
Neither
Cyclosporine clinical use(s):
In the context of organ transplant.
In some settings involving inflammatory bowel disease.
Both
Neither
Cyclosporine, because of its significant infrequent adverse effects, has only specific and limited use as a primary therapeutic approach in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
True
False
IV cyclosporine when administered to patients very ill with IBD often improve significantly (50%-80% of the time) to an extent allowing, in some cases, avoidance of colectomy.
True
False
Concerning cyclosporine:
Oral cyclosporine, possibly because of limited intestinal absorption, is less effective, compared to its use in IBD, as maintenance treatment for Crohn's disease.
Cyclosporine may be used for treatment a clinical issue in Crohn's disease, fistulas complications.
Both
Neither
Generally, agents like cyclosporine, calcineurin inhibitors, may be effective in short term treatment may require other approaches for more satisfactory, long-term resolutions.
True
False
Cyclosporine administration and pharmacokinetics:
Cyclosporine given orally is incompletely and variably absorbed by the intestine.
The biphasic half-life is
about 9-18 hours (terminal phase).
Both
Neither
Important adverse effect(s) which limit cyclosporine use to a subset of inflammatory bowel disease presentations:
Increased infection risk
Hypertension
Renal insufficiency
Peripheral neuropathy
Seizures
A & B
A, B & C
A, B, C & D (all of the side effects)
Cyclosporine ismainly used in severe ulcerative colitis patients who have not responded to intravenous corticosteroid regimen.
True
False
Other immunosuppressants which may be helpful in inflammatory bowel disease and are being evaluated include:
Mycophenolate mofetil and mycophenolate, inhibitors of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase.
