Meta-analysis of ciprofloxacin in treatment of Crohn's disease

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of ciprofloxacin (cipro) for the treatment of Crohn's disease (CD) through a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. The PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases were searched up to May 2014, with no language restrictions, for randomized placebo-controlled trials. Additional references were obtained from the reviewed studies. Five studies were in accordance with the criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled risk ratio (RR) of all the studies was 1.35 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.03-1.76; P=0.03]. In three studies, cipro was used for the treatment of CD with perianal fistula and the pooled RR was 1.66 (95% CI, 1.16-2.39; P=0.006). In two studies, cipro was used to treat active CD and the pooled RR was 1.13 (95% CI, 0.77-1.66; P=0.54). Thus in conclusion, cipro exhibits a significant efficacy for the treatment of CD, in particular with perianal fistula.