An Elevated Platelet Count Increases the Risk of Relapse in Ulcerative Colitis Patients with Mucosal Healing
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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Chinese Herbal Retention Enema for the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis
Published on: May 16, 2025
Asuka Nakarai1, Jun Kato2, Sakiko Hiraoka1
1Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
Background/Aims:
Although mucosal healing (MH) has been considered a treatment goal for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), the risk factors predictive of relapse in patients who achieve MH are unknown. Because the platelet count has been shown to be a marker of inflammation in inflammatory bowel diseases, this study aimed to assess whether the platelet count could predict relapse in UC patients with MH.
Methods:
A prospective observational study was performed. UC patients with MH were consecutively enrolled in the study and monitored for at least 2 years or until relapse. The correlation between the incidence of relapse and the platelet count at the time of study enrollment was examined.
Results:
In total, 43 patients were enrolled, and 14 patients (33%) relapsed. The median platelet count at the time of enrollment in the patients who relapsed significantly differed from that in the patients who did not relapse (27.2×10⁴/μL vs 23.8×10⁴/μL, respectively; p=0.016). A platelet count >25.0×10⁴/μL was a significant risk factor for relapse based on a multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 4.85; 95% confidence interval, 1.07 to 25.28), and according to the Kaplan-Meier analysis, this cutoff could identify patients susceptible to relapse (p=0.041, log-rank test).
Conclusions:
The platelet count could be used as a predictor of relapse in UC patients with MH.
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