Intestinal ultrasound for follow-up after 24 weeks of biological therapy in inflammatory bowel disease patients: an Egyptian center experience during the COVID-19 pandemic

Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gut. It has two major subtypes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The follow-up consists of radiologic, molecular, endoscopic, and histological assessments. Intestinal ultrasound (IUS) is a noninvasive measure that provides future hope in guiding the management of IBD patients. This study is to assess the effectiveness of IUS in IBD patients’ follow-up in our tertiary center during the pandemic. This is a prospective observational study during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used IUS to assess activity of IBD at baseline and at 6-month follow-up of patients on maintenance biological therapy using the following parameters: bowel haustrations, stratification, bowel wall thickness (BWT), Doppler sign (Limberg classification), presence of lymph nodes, or fibrofatty infiltration, echogenicity of the bowel, and presence of fistulae or abscesses. We compared the IUS with other radiologic parameters, histologic, and endoscopic scores at baseline before therapy, while we compared IUS with clinical scores and laboratory parameters before and after 24 weeks of biological treatment. The cohort included 50 known IBD patients from June 2021 to January 2022. The laboratory studies showed a significant improvement in the hemoglobin indices, CRP, and fecal calprotectin from baseline and after 24 weeks. BWT, lumen diameter, lymph node presence, inflammatory signs, and Doppler activity signs were the most significant parameters in detecting improvement. However, there was no significant correlation between fecal calprotectin levels and ultrasound parameters. There was a positive correlation between MR and CT enterography, endoscopic parameters, and IUS parameters at baseline. IUS is an effective tool for follow-up of IBD patients especially during the pandemic periods.