[Clinical characteristics and endoscopic-histologic correlation in patients with chronic non-specific ulcerative...

Our objective was to evaluate prospectively, objectively and in a systematic way the evaluation of patients with Ulcerative Colitis (UC) with moderate activity. We studied 14 outpatients, who were evaluated for an experimental therapeutic protocol. The activity of the disease was established using clinical, endoscopic and histologic parameters. The Kappa Index (K) was used for statistical analysis. The average number of bowel movements was 4/day; rectal bleeding and urgency were found in 100%, diarrhea in 78% and abdominal pain in 64%. The severity of rectal bleeding and urgency was graded II or III in 92% and 78% respectively. The correlation between endoscopy and histology (K = 0.55), and between clinical and endoscopy (K = 0.45) was moderate. There was no correlation between clinical and histological parameters.

the variability of symptoms impairs the clinical evaluation as the unique method to determine the activity of UC and to take therapeutical decisions is necessary to perform a endoscopic/histology correlation.