Endoscopic score vs. fecal biomarkers for predicting relapse in patients with ulcerative colitis after clinical remission and mucosal healing

The predictive variable regarding relapse in patients with ulcerative colitis after achieving endoscopic mucosal healing.

BACKGROUND/AIMS Mucosal healing (MH) is a proposed therapeutic goal for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Whether MH is the final goal for UC, however, remains under debate. Therefore, to elucidate clinical variables predicting relapse after MH in UC could be useful for establishing further therapeutic strategy. The aim of this study is to evaluate the predictive variables for relapse in U...

Fecal calprotectin predicts complete mucosal healing and better correlates with the ulcerative colitis endoscopic index of severity than with the Mayo endoscopic subscore in patients with ulcerative colitis

BACKGROUND We aimed to evaluate the role of fecal calprotectin (FC) as a noninvasive marker for the disease activity of ulcerative colitis (UC) in a Korean cohort. METHODS A total of 181 fecal samples were collected from 181 consecutive UC patients between April 2015 and September 2016. FC levels were measured using the Quantum Blue® Calprotectin rapid test. The laboratory test results, parti...

Noninvasive biomarkers as surrogate predictors of clinical and endoscopic remission after infliximab induction in patients with refractory ulcerative colitis

BACKGROUND/AIMS Treatment of refractory ulcerative colitis (UC) is a clinical challenge, and after biological therapy, monitoring clinical and endoscopic responses is fundamental. We aimed to investigate and compare the predictive power of different noninvasive parameters for clinical remission and mucosal healing after infliximab induction therapy in refractory UC patients. PATIENTS AND METH...

Endomicroscopy for assessing mucosal healing in patients with ulcerative colitis.

The assessment of tissue healing has emerged as an important treatment goal in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. In patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), mucosal healing may represent the ultimate therapeutic goal due to the fact that the inflammation is limited to the mucosal layer. Mucosal and histological healing may indicate a subset of UC patients in long-term clinical, endoscopic...

Can histologic remission be a better prognostic factor and therapeutic target beyond endoscopic mucosal healing in patients with ulcerative colitis?