Crohn's Disease Activity Evaluation by Transabdominal Ultrasonography: Correlation with Double-Balloon Endoscopy.

Objectives: Transabdominal ultrasonography (US) has been reported as a useful tool for evaluating Crohn's disease (CD) activity. Endoscopic findings and Crohn's disease activity index (CDAI) are currently considered the gold standard for assessing CD activity. We assessed the correlation between US and double-balloon endoscopy (DBE), and CDAI for evaluating CD activity.

Methods: We analyzed patients with CD undergoing US and DBE within 10 days between the procedures. The intestine was divided into four segments and analyzed by the US scoring system (US-CD) and the simple endoscopic score for Crohn's disease (SES-CD). CDAI was compared with US-CD and SES-CD. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used for statistical analysis.

Results: Twenty-five patients with CD (11 women, 14 men; mean age 35.4 ± 14.9 years, range 16-65 years) were enrolled. Twenty-four patients received antitumor necrosis factor inhibitor therapy. CDAI was 128.1 (range 36-227). A significant moderate correlation was found between the US-CD and SES-CD in all segments (ρ = .64, P < .01). The US-CD showed a strong correlation with CDAI (ρ = .78, P < .01), whereas the SES-CD showed a moderate correlation (ρ = .55, P < .05).

Conclusions: US-CD and SES-CD showed a moderate correlation for assessing CD activity. US-CD showed a stronger correlation with CDAI than SES-CD, suggesting that US could more accurately evaluate the disease activity.