Short article: Remicade infusions at home: an alternative setting of infliximab therapy for patients with Crohn's disease.

OBJECTIVE: Infliximab maintenance treatment for Crohn's disease (CD) consists of intravenous infusions that are usually given at 6-8-week intervals. We aimed to evaluate whether home-based infliximab infusions could offer a useful and safe alternative for the management of CD patients.

METHODS: Adult CD patients receiving infliximab maintenance treatment at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam were invited to receive their infusions at home for the duration of 1 year. Patients had to be in clinical remission and should have had no adverse events during previous infusions. Patient satisfaction and experience were studied. Costs were analyzed and compared with hospital-based infliximab infusions.

RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients were invited, of whom 13 (45%) wanted to participate. Of the participants, 54% were female, and the median age was 33 years. In total, 59 infliximab infusions were administered at home at a median dose of 360 mg. The median rating of patient satisfaction was 8 on a scale from 1 to 10 for both home and hospital treatment settings. An important observation was that patients' willingness to participate would have been 70% if the possibility of receiving infusions at home outside office hours had been offered. Costs of infliximab infusions at home were €229 per infusion compared with €284 at the infusion clinic (excluding drug costs).

CONCLUSION: Home-based infliximab infusions were associated with a cost saving of €55 per infusion. Most participants were satisfied and would recommend home-based infusions to others. Infliximab treatment at home might be recommended as routine care for CD patients.