Utility of Intestinal Ultrasound in Clinical Decision-Making for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

There is a clinical need to improve the monitoring of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) activity. Despite being used regularly in European countries, intestinal ultrasound (IUS) has been implemented less in the United States for unclear reasons.

The aim of this study is to illustrate how IUS can be used as a clinical decision-making tool in an American IBD cohort.

This retrospective cohort analysis evaluated patients with IBD seen at our institution who underwent IUS as part of routine evaluation of their IBD from July 2020 to March 2022. To evaluate the clinical utility of IUS for different patient populations and against more frequently used measures of inflammation, we compared patient demographics, inflammatory markers, clinical scores, and medications between patients in remission and those with active inflammation. Treatment plans between the 2 groups were compared and we analyzed patients with follow-up IUS visits to validate treatment plan decisions at initial evaluation.

Out of 148 total patients with IUS, we found that 62.1% (N = 92) of our patients had active disease and 37.9% (N = 56) were in remission. Ulcerative colitis activity index and Mayo scores were both significantly correlated with IUS findings. The treatment plan was significantly correlated with IUS findings (P = .004). At follow-up, we observed an overall decrease in intestinal thickening, improvements in vascular flow, and mural stratification.

Clinical decisions incorporating IUS findings effectively reduced inflammation in our IBD patients. IUS should be strongly considered by IBD clinicians in the United States for monitoring disease activity in IBD.