Intestinal ultrasound as a non-invasive tool to monitor inflammatory bowel disease activity and guide clinical decision making

Abstract

Intestinal ultrasound (IUS) is a non-invasive, real-time, cross-sectional imaging tool that can be used at the point-of-care to assess disease activity in patients with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. IUS promotes quick and impactful treatment decisions that can modify disease progression and enhance patient compliance. This review will summarize the technical aspects of IUS, the evidence to support the use of IUS in disease activity monitoring, the comparison of IUS to current standard of care monitoring modalities such as colonoscopy and calprotectin, and the optimal positioning of IUS in a tight-control monitoring strategy.

Keywords: Crohn’s disease; Ulcerative colitis; Disease monitoring; Intestinal ultrasound

Core Tip: Intestinal ultrasound (IUS) is a non-invasive, real-time, cross-sectional imaging tool that is currently underutilized for direct disease activity monitoring in Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). IUS is the optimal point-of-care method to monitor disease activity in patients with CD or UC with excellent patient compliance and comparison to such traditional monitoring modalities as calprotectin, colonoscopy, and magnetic resonance enterography.