Photo Credit: Pijitra Phomkham

The following is a summary of “Diagnostic Accuracy Of Intestinal Ultrasound in the Detection of Intra-Abdominal Complications In Crohn’s Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” published in the January 2024 issue of Gastroenterology by Pruijt et al.

Due to frequent strictures and other complications in Crohn’s disease (CD), intestinal ultrasound (IUS) emerges as a valuable non-invasive tool for bedside evaluation.

Researchers conducted a retrospective analysis investigating the effectiveness of IUS and its advanced techniques in diagnosing intra-abdominal complications in CD compared to established methods.

They involved studies on IUS diagnostic accuracy in adults with CD-related intra-abdominal complications, assessing study quality with the QUADAS-2 tool. Meta-analyzed conventional IUS (B-mode) and oral contrast IUS (SICUS).

The results showed 1,498 identified studies, 68 were part of the review, and 23 studies (3863 patients) contributed to the meta-analysis. B-mode IUS demonstrated pooled sensitivities and specificities of 0.81 and 0.90 for strictures, 0.87 (sensitivities) and 0.95 for inflammatory masses,  0.67 and 0.97 (specificities) for fistulas, respectively. The overall log diagnostic ORs were 3.56, 3.97, and 3.84, respectively. SICUS exhibited pooled sensitivity and specificity of 0.94 and 0.95 for strictures, 0.91 and 0.97 for inflammatory masses, and 0.90 and 0.94 for fistulas, respectively. The pooled overall log diagnostic ORs of SICUS were 4.51, 5.46, and 4.80, respectively.

Investigators concluded that IUS accurately diagnosed intra-abdominal complications in CD, making it a recommended non-invasive first-line imaging tool for such suspicions.

Source: academic.oup.com/ecco-jcc/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjad215/7510499