Role of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of postsurgical recurrence of Crohn's disease.
OBJECTIVE
Ultrasonography is a valid tool in the diagnosis of Crohn's disease, but its sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy in the diagnosis of postoperative recurrence are still not well established. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of ultrasonography compared with endoscopy in the diagnosis of postoperative recurrence of Crohn's disease.


METHODS
Forty-seven patients resected for Crohn's ileitis were studied by ultrasonography and colonoscopy to detect possible recurrence of the disease; 10 patients operated on for cancer of the right colon were used as controls. Six patients with Crohn's disease were excluded from the study because of failure to endoscopically reach the anastomosis; the remaining 41 patients had both ultrasonography and colonoscopy over a period of 14 days. Sonographic recurrence was defined as the presence of >5 mm thickness of the ileal wall.


RESULTS
Sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy of ultrasonography in diagnosis of postoperative recurrence were 81%, 86%, and 83% respectively. Positive predictive value was 96% and negative predictive value was 57%.


CONCLUSIONS
This study is the first to assess the role of ultrasonography in comparison with endoscopy in detecting Crohn's disease recurrence after surgery. Our data suggest that ultrasonography should be used first in the case of clinical suspicion of Crohn's disease recurrence, reserving ileocolonoscopy for negative or uncertain cases.
Andreoli
A
A
Department of Gastroenterology, Ospedale Nuovo Regina Margherita, Rome, Italy.
Cerro
P
P
Falasco
G
G
Giglio
L A
LA
Prantera
C
C
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical; D003082:Colectomy; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D003113:Colonoscopy; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007079:Ileitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D007082:Ileum / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012008:Recurrence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014463:Ultrasonography