AB128. SOH26AB_0221. Systematic review on the rate of post-operative infections in patients taking Janus kinase inhibitors for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease
Systematic Reviews Session

AB128. SOH26AB_0221. Systematic review on the rate of post-operative infections in patients taking Janus kinase inhibitors for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

Mariam Ahmed, Oisin O’Donnell, Eimear Roche, Mark Regan

Department of General Surgery, University Hospital Galway, Galway, Ireland

Background: Treatment modalities for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) continue to advance with new therapies being introduced, including Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKi) for acute flares of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), as well as maintenance therapy. However, data regarding their safety in the perioperative setting remain limited. This study aimed to present a systematic review, focusing on rates of post-op infections in patients taking a JAKi undergoing surgery.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. It included search terms in combination of “IBD” OR “inflammatory bowel disease” AND “tofacitinib” OR “filgotinib” OR “upadacitinib” AND “post-operative infections” across PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Scopus, with assessment of texts for post-operative complications in patients on a JAKi. All texts were screened individually by two separate people, with a third reviewer to settle disputes to avoid bias.

Results: Our final search allowed six full texts with a total of 260 patients treated with JAKi, of which 181 underwent surgery while receiving a JAKi. Our results did not show an increased risk of post-operative infections in patients taking a JAKi compared with those not on a JAKi, or those on alternative treatment for IBD

Conclusions: Current evidence does not demonstrate an increased risk of post-op infections in patients undergoing surgery while on a JAKi, with similar rates of post-op infections between JAKi-treated and control cohorts. This must be interpreted cautiously. Larger, well-designed prospective studies are needed to clarify the perioperative safety profile of JAK inhibitors in surgical IBD populations.

Keywords: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKi); post-operative infections; tofacitinib; upadacitinib

Acknowledgments

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Footnote

Funding: None.

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

doi: 10.21037/map-26-ab128
Cite this abstract as: Ahmed M, O’Donnell O, Roche E, Regan M. AB128. SOH26AB_0221. Systematic review on the rate of post-operative infections in patients taking Janus kinase inhibitors for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. Mesentery Peritoneum 2026;10:AB128.

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