Pre-treatment magnetic resonance enterography findings predict the response to TNF-alpha inhibitors in Crohn's disease.

Background: Identifying predictors of therapeutic response is the cornerstone of personalised medicine.

Aim: To identify predictors of long-term healing of severe inflammatory lesions based on magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) findings in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) treated with tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) inhibitors.

Methods: This prospective longitudinal single-centre study included patients with clinically active CD requiring treatment with TNF-α inhibitors with at least one intestinal segment with a severe inflammatory lesion detected by MRE (segmental MaRIA ≥11). MRE data were obtained at baseline, and at weeks 14 and 46. The primary endpoint was healing of severe inflammatory lesions (MaRIA <11) in each segment. The secondary endpoint was healing of all severe inflammatory lesions on a per-patient analysis.

Results: We included 58 patients with 86 intestinal segments with severe inflammatory lesions. At week 46, healing of severe lesions was found in 51/86 (59.3%) segments, and complete healing of inflammatory lesions in all segments was found in 28/58 (48.6%) patients. Multivariable analysis found baseline-negative predictors of long-term healing of severe inflammation were ileal (as opposed to colonic) location (OR 0.00, [0.00-0.56] P = 0.002) and presence of creeping fat on MRE (OR 0.00 [0.00-0.57]; P = 0.001). Persistence of segmental MaRIA score >10.6 at week 14 was a negative predictor of healing at week 46 (OR 0.3 [0.04--0.38]; P < 0.001).

Conclusion: In patients with CD, the absence of creeping fat detected at baseline MRE and location of severe inflammatory lesions are clinically relevant predictors of long-term healing of severe inflammation under treatment with TNF-α inhibitors.