Background: Steroid administration currently plays a central role in the medical management of ulcerative colitis (UC); however, long‐term steroid usage causes adverse effects, which necessitates stoppage of drug intake, leading to worsening of the disease. A steroid‐sparing, well‐tolerated treatment is therefore required. As several investigators have reported the efficacy of leukocytapheresis (LCAP) combined with steroid therapy, we investigated the clinical usefulness and safety of LCAP for steroid‐naïve patients with active UC for comparison with those of conventional steroid therapy.

Methods: Twenty‐nine Japanese patients with active UC without a history of steroid usage were selected to be treated with LCAP (n = 9) or prednisolone (PSL) (n = 20). LCAP administration continued for 10 weekly cycles. In the PSL group, patients with moderately severe disease received 0.5 mg/kg per day of PSL and those with severe disease 1.0 mg/kg per day. The PSL dosage was gradually tapered in accordance with improvement.

Results: Eight (88.9%) of the LCAP group and 16 (80.0%) of the PSL group showed clinical improvement and three (33.3%) of the LCAP group and seven (35.0%) of the PSL group achieved remission. As for the treatment complications, three major adverse effects were observed in the PSL group, but none were observed in the LCAP group.

Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the efficacy and safety of LCAP are equivalent, and in terms of severe adverse effects, superior to those of steroid therapy. LCAP therapy may thus be a promising candidate therapy for steroid‐naïve patients with active UC.

© 2005 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd