Research Update Summer 2021

In the research update of this newsletter interesting and exciting novel research recently published or presented at ECCO 2021. Helwig et al recently published a post-hoc analysis on two large prospective cohorts in Crohn’s Disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) showing that transmural response and healing after 12 weeks of treatment are potential therapeutic targets being predictive for IUS outcomes at week 52 [1]. Furthermore, Goodsall et al published important work on standardization of IUS scoring in clinical trials for CD [2]. An expert panel deemed most individual parameters appropriate to reflect disease activity in CD but the panel was uncertain about currently available scoring indices for use in clinical trials. Further research is mandatory towards development and standardization of IUS disease activity scoring indices for use clinical trials.

Also, at ECCO 2021 many interesting research was presented for both CD and UC. For CD, data was presented on scoring indices, early treatment response, predicting complications, defining the predominant phenotype of CD strictures and cost-effectiveness of IUS versus MRI. For UC, data was presented on scoring indices, early treatment response and the role of the submucosal wall layer. Find here all abstracts: ECCO Congress Abstracts (ecco-ibd.eu).

More recent publications could be found here: Literature recommendations – IBUS – International Bowel Ultrasound Group (ibus-group.org). More news will follow soon on ongoing projects within the IBUS-group!