BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Approximately 15% of patients with ulcerative colitis will have a severe flare requiring hospitalisation at some stage. For those who fail to respond to intravenous steroids Cyclosporin A (CyA) therapy is one option. We have evaluated the management of such patients in our centre and present the long term colectomy avoidance rates. METHODS: 38 consecutive patients receiving CyA for an acute, steroid-refractory flare of colitis were retrieved from our database. Records were unavailable for 2 patients and 2 received therapy twice, hence 38 episodes were analysed. RESULTS: 24/36 patients were male; median age 37 years. On admission 20 patients were taking oral steroids; 8 were taking a thiopurine and 7 patients were on no treatment. CyA was started a median of 8 days after admission (range 1-28) and most patients (32/38) received this orally at doses of 4.5-8.3mg/kg. 15 patients have undergone colectomy, 11 of these during the same admission for lack of response to CyA. Of the patients who were discharged without surgery, 84% have still not required colectomy after a median follow-up of 3.8 years. Adverse effects were mostly minor, though two patients developed neutropenia on dual immunosuppression. CONCLUSIONS: CyA can be administered orally with good tolerability. We use it as a bridging therapy to Azathioprine. In our population, 84% of those who responded to CyA have not required surgery.