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Endoscopic healing is likely to become an important goal for treatment of patients with ulcerative colitis.
A simple validated endoscopic index is needed.
Professor William Sandborn and colleagues from California, USA validated the previously developed Ulcerative Colitis Colonoscopic Index of Severity.
In a prospective study, 50 patients with ulcerative colitis were examined by colonoscopy.
The team analyzed videos of rectum and sigmoid, descending, transverse, and cecum/ascending colon.
The researchers reported that 8 gastroenterologists blindly rated 4 mucosal lesions, and severity of damage to each segment and overall.
The global assessment of endoscopic severity was based on a 4-point scale, and 10-cm visual analogue scale.
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| The Ulcerative Colitis Colonoscopic Index of Severity accounted for 80% of the variation in the visual analogue scores |
| Clinical Gastroenterology & Hepatology |
Interobserver agreement was good to excellent for the 4 mucosal lesions evaluated by endoscopy, and the global assessment of endoscopic severity.
The doctors observed that the Ulcerative Colitis Colonoscopic Index of Severity accounted for 74%, and 80% of the variation in the global assessment of endoscopic severity, and visual analogue scores, respectively.
The Ulcerative Colitis Colonoscopic Index of Severity also correlated with clinical activity index, simple clinical colitis activity index, and patient-defined remission.
The research team noted that the Ulcerative Colitis Colonoscopic Index of Severity also correlated with levels of C-reactive protein, albumin, and hemoglobin.
A rederivation of the equation for the Ulcerative Colitis Colonoscopic Index of Severity by using the data from a previous study combined with those of the current study yielded similar results.
Professor Sandborn's team commented, "The Ulcerative Colitis Colonoscopic Index of Severity is a simple tool that provides reproducible results in endoscopic scoring of patients with ulcerative colitis".
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