Groundbreaking research on new ways of treating complications of Crohn’s disease, being jointly conducted by researchers from Myka Labs, ISCARE and the University of California at San Francisco, was presented at the 2023 Crohn’s and Colitis Congress, held in Denver, Colorado.

The significant contribution of fibrosis in many Crohn’s strictures is a barrier to durable stricture resolution. While less-invasive interventions like balloon dilation and enteral stent placement can offer transient relief of stricture symptoms, many Crohn’s patients with strictures currently progress to requiring major surgery.

The research reported at the Crohn’s and Colitis Congress focuses on durably resolving strictures without surgery. A key element is endoscopically placing specialized dual-flange semi-collapsible device systems within and around strictured segments. The research team reported promising results that this approach appears to simultaneously excises core fibrotic tissue while promoting peripheral healing.

Arrays of ultraminiature sensors incorporated into the device components used in the study allowed the research team to precisely characterize the stricture response to therapy. The study is the first long-term follow-up of the new approach to Crohn’s stricture treatment in a validated animal model.

Presenting for the Myka Labs team at the Congress will be co-author and Myka Labs Scientific Advisory Board Member Dr. Barry Salky, a longtime leader in the field of Crohn’s patient care. The lead authors on the paper are Dr. Caressa Chen from UCSF Surgical Innovations and Dr. Juan Verde from the Institute for Image Guided Surgery in Strasbourg, France. Dr. Chen and Dr. Verde contributed equally on the work.