Exabis Library

Educational objectives:
1. To understand the ultrasound features that represent disease activity in CD and UC
2. To get an overview of existing activity scores in CD and UC
3. To get an overview of transmural healing
4. To know the advantages and challenges by applying activity scores.

In this talk, we intend to compare the different existing histological scoring systems used in ulcerative colitis, as well as, the standards used for histological response and histological remission.

Educational objectives

1.What are the treatment goals in UC ?
2.Which clinical scores exist for UC ? Are they sufficient ?
3.Which endoscopic scores exist for UC ? Pros & cons ?
4.Which histologic scores exist for UC ? Pros & cons ?
5.When to take biopsies for FU of UC treatment ?
6.What are the treatment goals in CD ?
7.Are there clinical scores exist for CD ? Are they sufficient ?
8.Are there endoscopic scores for CD ? Pros & cons ?
9.How far are we with histologic scores for CD ?
10.Cautious recommendations for pathologists

Previous studies suggested a role for segmental colectomy (SC) and total colectomy (TC) for colonic Crohn’s disease (cCD). TC might reduce recurrence rates, at the cost of impaired quality of life and higher stoma rates. We compared the long-term outcomes of SC and TC.

This is an international, multicentric study on data from the prospective databases of six centres. All consecutive patients operated on between 2000 and 2019 for cCD with SC or TC were included. Exclusion criteria were colorectal cancer, previous bowel resections, and lack of follow-up data. Disease extension was based on involvement of 1 to 5 colonic segments. Resection of 1-3 segments was classified as SC, resection of 4-5 segments as TC. Primary aim was surgical recurrence after SC vs TC. Secondary aims were perioperative complications, stoma formation rate, and predictors of recurrence.

Data of 687 (56.2% women) patients were analysed. Mean age at diagnosis and at surgery were 30±15.8 and 40.4±15.4 years. Disease duration was 10.4 ± 8.6 years. 16.6% of patients were A1, whereas most (62.2%) were diagnosed between 17 and 40 years. Isolated cCD (L2) was present in 61.1%, ileocolic CD (L3) in 38.9%, and concomitant jejuno-ileal CD (L4) in 3.2%. Most had stricturing (B2) cCD (41.9%). Active perianal disease was found in 28.9% patients. SC was performed in 285 patients, TC in 402. The latter more frequently had isolated cCD, inflammatory (B1) disease, current (37.8 vs 16.5%, p<0.001) or previous (56 vs 32.6%, p<0.001) perianal CD, and longer disease duration (11.3 ± 8.9 vs 9.2 ± 7.9, p<0.001). Postoperative complications and mortality were similar, but TC patients more frequently required 90-day readmission (6% vs 2.1%, p=0.02). Temporary (31.6 vs 21.4%, p<0.001) and definitive (39.3vs8%, p<0.001) stomas were more likely after TC. The 15-year cumulative surgical recurrence was 36%, more likely in the TC group (44 vs 27%, Log-Rank p=0.006), and it was not affected by the number of colonic segments involved (23 vs 28%, 1-3 vs 4-5 segments p=0.2) (Fig 1). In patients with 1-3 segments involved, postoperative treatment with biologics, compared to any other regimen, reduced the risk of recurrence (25 vs 51%, p<0.001), while early age at diagnosis (p=0.02) and perianal CD (p=0.01) increased the risk. Omission of biological therapy (HR 5.4, 95%CI 5.1-5.8 p<0.001), and paediatric diagnosis (HR 2.1, 95%CI 2.3-3.1 p<0.001) were the strongest predictors of recurrence in this subgroup.

In this study, SC was safe, required less frequently stoma and repeated surgery, compared with TC. These findings question previous data on the topic and might be supported by the efficacy of postoperative biologic therapy on cCD.

The world wide web and social media platforms have become an unprecedented source for sharing self-experience, potentially allowing the collection and integration of health data with patient experience

StuffThatWorks (STW) is an online open platform that applies machine learning and the power of crowdsourcing where patients with chronic medical conditions can self-report and compare their individual outcomes using a structured online questionnaire. The present study analyzed de-identified self-reported personalized comparative treatments' effectiveness for CD. The design was a cross-sectional, international, crowdsourcing, questionnaire and AI web-based study of patients with Crohn's self-reporting their outcomes by 06/11/21. A proprietary STW Bayesian inference model was built to measures the level of improvement in condition severity and clinical indicators for each treatment and ranks treatment effectiveness. A linear regression model was used to examine co-variate association with the current condition severity as the outcome. Finally, the effectiveness of first-line biological treatments was analyzed by multiple treatment comparisons model and by calculating odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals for each treatment pair.

A total of 5898 self-reported CD patients were included for the analysis. Most participants were female (76.13%) and from English speaking countries (91%). Overall, anti TNF drugs were the most reported tried treatment (71.97%) followed by steroids (46.22%) and diet (43.8%). Among Biologic therapy (BT) tried by STW CD users, Infliximab (IFX) and Adalimumab (ADA) were ranked most effective by the STW effectiveness model, by change in condition severity on 1-5 scale (mean change of 1.19 points, estimated lower-upper bounds 1.10-1.28), followed by Ustekinumab (UST) (mean 1.07, bounds 0.88-1.26), and Vedolizumab (VDZ) (mean 0.96, bounds 0.74-1.17). Bowel surgery (mean 1.19, bounds 0.98-1.40), and cannabis (mean 1.01, bounds 0.72-1.31) were also among the top 5 most effective treatments together with BT. The odds ratio was calculated for each BT pair, with IFX more effective than ADA, UST and VDZ (OR 2.34 (CI 1.88 – 2.80), 3.08 (CI 2.44 – 3,73), 7.16 (CI 6.53 – 7.80), respectively), ADA more effective than UST and VDZ (OR 1.32 (CI 0.74 - 1.9), 3.06 (CI 2.49 - 3.63), respectively), and UST more effective than VDZ (OR 2.32 (CI 1.6 - 3.05)).

We present the first online crowdsourcing platform-based study of treatment self-reported outcomes in CD. Net-based crowdsourcing patient-reported outcomes' platforms can potentially help both clinicians and patients select the best treatment for their condition.