Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Curcumin and QingDai (QD, indigo) are two herbal extracts used in traditional medicine. A combination of curcumin with QD (CurQD) was reported to be effective in ulcerative colitis, but its effectiveness in Crohn's disease (CD) is unknown. We report on the use of CurQD for the treatment of CD. CASE PRESENTATION: The patient was a 35-year-old male with colonic and perianal CD responsive to infliximab therapy, who had to discontinue therapy due to a concomitant cardiomyopathy diagnosis. After cessation of infliximab treatment, he experienced clinical and endoscopic relapse which responded to initiation of CurQD therapy with regained clinical and endoscopic remission. CONCLUSION: In summary, the present case report describes, for the first time, a possible benefit of CurQD nutraceutical in the induction and maintenance of remission in a Crohn's patient. However, more data, preferably from adequately powered randomized controlled trials, are needed to corroborate these observations.