Prospective trial compares diagnostic performance of TUS and BAE in Crohn's disease lesions, suggesting TUS as a useful tool.
Key Points
This study aims to evaluate the diagnostic performance of transabdominal ultrasonography for detecting small-bowel lesions in Crohn's disease compared to balloon-assisted enteroscopy.
Prospective single-center study with 94 patients having Crohn's disease.
Patients underwent transabdominal ultrasonography prior to balloon-assisted enteroscopy.
Diagnostic accuracy assessed for mucosal inflammation and stenosis using endoscopic criteria as the reference standard.
TUS sensitivity for mucosal inflammation was 69% in the terminal ileum and 91% in the proximal small bowel.
TUS sensitivity for stenosis was 78% in the terminal ileum and 63% in the proximal small bowel.
High specificity was observed for both mucosal inflammation (94% terminal ileum, 82% proximal small bowel) and stenosis (98% terminal ileum, 89% proximal small bowel).