Bowel Damage at Diagnosis Using the Lémann Index Score in Saudi Arabian Patients With Crohn's Disease

Background Advanced bowel damage caused by Crohn's disease (CD) in the form of strictures and penetrating lesions has been associated with future surgical resection. However, in general, the degree of bowel damage in patients with CD is not examined at the time of diagnosis, and the natural history of CD may differ phenotypically between patients from Arabic countries as compared to patients from Europe and North America. Thus, we aimed to assess the degree of structural bowel damage in Saudi Arabian CD patients at diagnosis. We used the Lémann Index (LI) score, an instrument that measures cumulative digestive tissue damage by magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) and endoscopy, to establish any possible association between the duration of symptoms and the degree of bowel damage. Method This retrospective study was conducted by reviewing the data of all CD patients following up at King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH) that were investigated by endoscopy and MRE at baseline. MRE-LI was calculated by scoring previous surgery, disease location and extension, and intestinal complications. A LI score of >2.0 was set as the cut-off point for bowel damage. Descriptive statistics were used to provide an overview of demographic and clinical characteristics, and hypothesis testing was applied to identify associations. Result Eighty-three patients with CD were included in this study. Fifty point six percent (50.6%) of the cohort comprised females and the median age was 27 years. With regards to CD location and extension, 34.9% showed ileal disease (L1), 9.6% showed colonic CD (L2), whereas 55.4% had ileocolonic involvement (L3). Moreover, 48.2% of patients presented with non-complicated behavior (B1), 25.3% had at least one stricture (B2), and 26.5% showed a penetrating phenotype (B3). Perianal CD was observed in 2.4% of subjects and 62.7% had undergone bowel resection. Mean LI was 2.4 (±2.6) with 34 patients (39.8%) exhibiting an LI score indicative of advanced bowel damage at the time of diagnosis. The duration of symptoms did not correlate with the degree of bowel damage according to the LI score. Conclusion A significant proportion of patients with CD presented with advanced bowel damage at the time of diagnosis, suggesting that a severe form of CD may be endemic in Saudi Arabia.