Natural history of cytomegalovirus infection in a series of patients diagnosed with moderate-severe ulcerative colitis

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of the series n (%)

Patient characteristics	Total	HCMV+	HCMV-
Sex (M/F)	50/35	19/9	31/26
Age at ward admission (yr)
≥ 50		17	40
< 50		11	17
Disease extension
Left sided colitis	39	11 (39)	28 (49)
Subtotal and pancolitis	46	17 (61)	29 (51)
Previous azathioprine treatment	21	11 (39)	10 (17.5)
Previous biologic treatment	9	2 (7)	7 (12)
Active disease at sigmoidoscopy
Severe	51	16 (57)	35 (61)
Mild/moderate	34	12 (43)	22 (39)
Onset of disease (new diagnosis)	5	4 (14)	1 (2)
Reactivation (established disease)	80	24 (86)	56 (98)

Table 2 Results and outcome of the series n (%)

	HCMV+ (HE-ICH/PCR)	HCMV-
Total patients	28	57
Steroid dependent/resistant (%)	68	19
Medical remission	22 (78)	51 (89)
Surgical remission	6 (21)	6 (10.5)
Death	3 (10)	0
Persistence of HCMV DNA+ at follow-up	8 (28.5)	0

HCMV: Human cytomegalovirus; ICH: Immunohistochemical; PCR: Polymerase chain reaction; HE: Haematoxilin and eosin.

Table 3 Clinical course and outcome of ulcerative colotis with persistent human cytomegalovirus at polymerase chain reaction

Patient No.	Age (yr)/sex	Immunomodulators at HCMV diagnosis	Disease relapse	Outcome
1	42/F	Aza	No	Remission with 5-asa
2	71/M	No	Yes	Remission with IFX
3	58/M	Aza	Yes	Procto-colectomy
4	74/M	No	Yes	Remission with IFX
5	65/F	No	No	Remission with 5-asa
6	65/M	No	Yes	Remission with steroid
7	45/M	Aza	No	Leukapheresis-IFX
8	28/M	No	No	Remission with Aza

HCMV: Human cytomegalovirus; Aza: Azathioprine; IFX: Infliximab.