Abstract
BACKGROUND: Ulcerative colitis is monitored through clinical, laboratory, endoscopic, and histologic measures. Persistence of histologic inflammation despite clinical and endoscopic remission is associated with disease flare.
METHODS: We compared the identification of clinically significant histologic inflammation by general and IBD-specialized gastroenterologists (GI) using a simplified binary scoring system and looked at associations with disease relapse.
RESULTS: Both general and IBD-specialized GIs identified significant inflammation associated with relapse, though IBD-specialized GIs scoring had stronger correlations with relapse.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest simple histologic assessment can inform risk stratification, and further work is needed to optimize monitoring patients with histologic inflammation despite endoscopic remission.
