A 39-year-old man with a 5-year history of ileocolonic Crohn's disease received treatment with 6-mercaptopurine and adalimumab. A computed tomography scan was performed due to a persistent cough, revealing esophageal wall thickening. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy identified multiple longitudinal ulcers throughout the esophagus. Despite infliximab treatment, the esophageal lesions deteriorated, leading to the initiation of upadacitinib for antitumor necrosis factor-refractory esophageal lesions. Consequently, all esophageal lesions were healed, and serum biomarkers returned negative results. Although upadacitinib is effective for patients with ileocolonic Crohn's disease, this is the first case demonstrating its efficacy for refractory esophageal lesions.

BACKGROUND/AIMS:Endoscopic activity confirmed by enteroscopy is associated with poor clinical outcome in Crohn's disease (CD). We investigated which of the existing biomarkers best reflects endoscopic activity in CD patients including the small bowel, and whether their combined use can improve accuracy.METHODS:One hundred and four consecutive patients with ileal and ileocolonic type CD who underwent balloon-assisted enteroscopy (BAE) from October 2021 to August 2022 were enrolled, with clinical and laboratory data prospectively collected and analyzed.RESULTS:Hemoglobin, platelet count, C-reactive protein, leucine-rich alpha-2 glycoprotein (LRG), fecal calprotectin, and fecal hemoglobin all showed significant difference in those with ulcers found on BAE. LRG and fecal calprotectin showed the highest areas under the curve (0.841 and 0.853) for detecting ulcers. LRG showed a sensitivity of 78% and specificity of 80% at a cutoff value of 13 μg/mL, whereas fecal calprotectin showed a sensitivity of 91% and specificity of 67% at a cutoff value of 151 μg/g. Dual positivity for LRG and fecal calprotectin, as well as LRG and fecal hemoglobin, both predicted ulcers with an improved specificity of 92% and 100%. A positive LRG or fecal calprotectin/hemoglobin showed an improved sensitivity of 96% and 91%. Positivity for LRG and either of the fecal biomarkers was associated with increased risk of hospitalization, surgery, and relapse.CONCLUSIONS:The biomarkers LRG, fecal calprotectin, and fecal hemoglobin can serve as noninvasive and accurate tools for assessing activity in CD patients confirmed by BAE, especially when used in combination.

BACKGROUND/AIMS:The efficacy and safety of tofacitinib for the treatment of refractory ulcerative colitis (UC) has been demonstrated in clinical trials. Although, a series of reports with real-world evidence of its short-term efficacy and safety profiles have already been published, reports of long-term real-world data have been limited. We aimed to show our 3-year evidence on the clinical use of tofacitinib for the treatment of UC, focusing on its efficacy and safety profiles. METHODS:A retrospective observational study was conducted on patients who started tofacitinib for active refractory UC at our hospital. The primary outcome was the retention rate until 156 weeks after initiating tofacitinib. The secondary outcomes were short-term efficacy at 4, 8, and 12 weeks; long-term efficacy at 52, 104, and 156 weeks; prognostic factors related to the cumulative retention rate; loss of response; and safety profile, including adverse events. RESULTS:Forty-six patients who were able to be monitored for up to 156 weeks after tofacitinib initiation, were enrolled in this study. Continuation of tofacitinib was possible until 156 weeks in 54.3%, with > 50% response rates and > 40% remission rates. Among patients in whom response or remission was achieved and tofacitinib was deescalated after 8 weeks of induction treatment, 54.3% experienced relapse but were successfully rescued by and retained on reinduction treatment, except for 1 patient. No serious AEs were observed in the study. CONCLUSIONS:Tofacitinib is effective and safe as long-term treatment in a refractory cohort of UC patients in real-world clinical practice.

AbstractBehcet's disease (BD) is a multisystem immune‐mediated inflammatory disorder that occasionally involves the gastrointestinal tract. Reports on gastrointestinal involvement of BD are relatively rare, of which gastroduodenal involvement is particularly rare. Endoscopic features of gastroduodenal lesions are unknown, and treatment strategies have not been established. In this report, we present the case of a 72‐year‐old female with gastrointestinal BD who presented with extensive gastroduodenal ulcers and hematemesis that were resistant to colchicine and corticosteroid treatment, which were subsequently successfully treated with infliximab. We also review the current literature on the gastroduodenal involvement of BD. Although rare, the case highlights the importance of being aware of upper gastrointestinal manifestations of BD, as well as demonstrating the potential of infliximab to treat corticosteroid‐resistant cases.

A 50-year-old man was referred to our hospital for colitis with abdominal pain and diarrhea that had persisted for more than 8 months. 9 months earlier, he had been treated for fulminant eosinophilic myocarditis. During steroid therapy, ulceration appeared in the esophagus, stomach and large intestine. The biopsy results showed cytomegalovirus (CMV) inclusion bodies, and the patient was diagnosed with CMV gastrocolitis and treated with ganciclovir. Colonoscopy 7 months earlier revealed ischemia-like segmental colitis 10 cm in length in the hepatic flexure without evidence of CMV infection. Colonoscopy after 1 month and 3 months showed no improvement. We suspected drug-induced focal ischemic colitis, and discontinued eplerenone. Colonoscopy 2 months after withdrawal of eplerenone showed improvement in colitis, and colonoscopy 8 months later showed ulcer healing. Venous disorders are cautioned as a known side effect of eplerenone, but this is the first report of venous stasis colitis thought to be caused by eplerenone.

Background Small intestinal stricture is a major cause for surgery in Crohn’s disease (CD). Endoscopic balloon dilation (EBD) is performed for small intestinal strictures to avoid surgery, often repeatedly. However, factors that are associated with prognosis after EBD of small intestinal strictures remain poorly investigated. Mucosal healing is the therapeutic target in CD. We aimed to investigate the impact of mucosal healing defined by the presence of ulcers at the small intestinal stricture site on the prognosis of EBD in CD patients. Methods We retrospectively included patients with CD who underwent initial EBD for endoscopically impassable small intestinal strictures from January 2012 to March 2020 at a single center. The association between presence of ulcer at the stricture site and surgery after EBD was examined by Cox proportional hazards model. Results Of the 98 patients included, 63 (64.3%) had ulcer at the stricture site. 20 (31.7%) of these patients underwent surgery for the stricture in due course, whereas 4 (11.4%) of the patients without ulcer of the stricture underwent surgery. In multivariate analysis, patients with ulcer of the stricture had a significantly higher risk for surgery than those without ulcer (hazard ratio 4.84; 95% confidence interval 1.58–14.79). Conclusion Mucosal healing at the stricture site indicated a favorable prognosis after EBD for small intestinal strictures in CD.

Abstract Background Pneumatosis intestinalis (PI) is a rare condition characterized by gas collection in the intestinal wall. We aimed to determine the etiology and affected segments associated with complications, treatment, and outcome. Methods We conducted a multicenter epidemiological survey using a standardized data collection sheet in Japan. Complicating PI was defined as strangulation or bowel necrosis, bowel obstruction, adynamic ileus, sepsis, shock, and massive gastrointestinal bleeding requiring blood transfusion. Results We enrolled 167 patients from 48 facilities. Multivariate analysis revealed that older age (adjusted OR, 1.05 and 95% confidence intervals [CI], 1.02–1.09, P = 0.0053) and chronic kidney disease (adjusted OR, 13.19 and 95% CI 1.04–167.62, P = 0.0468) were independent predictors of the small-bowel-involved type. Complicating PI was associated with the small-bowel-involved combined type (adjusted OR, 27.02 and 95% CI 4.80–152.01, P = 0.0002), the small-bowel-only type (adjusted OR, 3.94 and 95% CI 1.02–15.27, P = 0.0472), and symptomatic PI (adjusted OR, 16.24 and 95% CI 1.82–145.24, P = 0.0126). Oxygen therapy was performed in patients with a past history of bowel obstruction (adjusted OR, 13.77 and 95% CI 1.31–144.56, P = 0.0288) and surgery was performed in patients with complicating PI (adjusted OR, 8.93 and 95% CI 1.10–72.78, P = 0.0408). Antihypertensives (adjusted OR, 12.28 and 95% CI 1.07–140.79, P = 0.0439) and complicating PI (adjusted OR, 11.77 and 95% CI 1.053–131.526; P = 0.0453) were associated with exacerbation of PI. The complicating PI was the only indicator of death (adjusted OR, 14.40 and 95% CI 1.09–189.48, P = 0.0425). Discussion Small-bowel-involved type and symptomatic PI were associated with complications which were indicators of poor prognosis.

Several studies have reported a positive correlation between serum drug concentrations and endoscopic remission in patients with Crohn's disease. To examine the association between the concentrations of cytokine blockers (infliximab, adalimumab and ustekinumab) and endoscopic remission of small bowel lesions. This was a cross-sectional study conducted at a single tertiary referral centre. Patients with Crohn's disease who received maintenance cytokine blocker therapy were recruited from April 2018 to May 2020. We performed balloon-assisted enteroscopy and collected serum samples to measure drug concentrations. The primary endpoint was the relationship between the concentrations of cytokine blockers and endoscopic remission in the small bowel. We enrolled 143 patients, 66, 44 and 33 of whom were receiving infliximab, adalimumab and ustekinumab, respectively. Enteroscopic findings showed that the rate of endoscopic remission of small bowel lesions was significantly lower than that of colonic lesions ( P < 0.01). For each agent, the mean drug concentration in patients exhibiting endoscopic remission in the small bowel was higher than that observed in patients with endoscopic remission in the colon (but not in the small bowel) or with any active disease (either in the small bowel, colon or both). Patients with infliximab, adalimumab and ustekinumab concentrations >5, 14 and 4 µg/mL were nearly 5.3-, 9.4- and 14.7-times more likely to exhibit endoscopic remission of the small bowel, respectively. Cytokine blocker treatment was less efficacious for small bowel inflammation than colonic inflammation. Higher serum concentrations were needed to achieve endoscopic remission of small bowel lesions.

Background Intravenous corticosteroid is the mainstay for managing acute severe ulcerative colitis, but one-third of patients do not respond to intravenous corticosteroid. Tacrolimus, a salvage therapy before colectomy, is usually orally administered, though its bioavailability is low compared intravenous administration. The efficacy of intravenous tacrolimus has not been widely studied. Aim To determine the efficacy and safety of intravenous tacrolimus for the treatment of acute severe ulcerative colitis. Methods Eighty-seven hospitalized acute severe ulcerative colitis patients were enrolled for a prospective cohort study between 2009 and 2017. Sixty-five patients received intravenous tacrolimus and 22 received oral tacrolimus. The primary outcome was the achievement of clinical remission within 2 weeks. Relapse and colectomy incidence and adverse events were assessed at 24 weeks. Results Response rates of both treatments exceeded 50% but were not significantly different. The remission rate was higher in intravenous tacrolimus compared with oral tacrolimus. At 24 weeks, oral and intravenous tacrolimus showed similar relapse-free survival rates; however, colectomy-free survival rates were higher in intravenous tacrolimus compared with oral tacrolimus. Conclusions Patients receiving intravenous tacrolimus achieved superior remission and colectomy-free survival rates compared with patients receiving oral tacrolimus. Safety was similar between the two treatments.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes chronic inflammation in the colon. 5-aminosalicylic acid and immunosuppressive medications such as corticosteroids, immunomodulators, and biologic agents are used to treat these patients. However, patients with UC who receive immunosuppressive medications may be at risk for certain opportunistic infections. Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) is one of those opportunistic infections, and its pathogenic role has been implicated in refractory UC, but its pathogenicity should be further investigated. Here, we report a surgical case of refractory UC that demonstrated a serologically post-infected pattern of EBV at admission but that later had a high load of EBV in both the peripheral blood and colonic mucosa. These findings suggest that EBV may have been reactivated in the colon, after which it damaged the colonic mucosa and aggravated inflammation in this patient with UC. Thus, EBV might lead to severity and a refractory response against corticosteroids and anti-TNFα agents, necessitating emergency surgery. Viral surveillance for EBV in patients with refractory UC may facilitate understanding of the patient’s pathophysiology and predicting response to medications, and the development of antiviral intervention for those patients may improve their prognosis.

SummaryBackgroundMucosal healing is an important treatment target in patients with ulcerative colitis.AimsTo explore the optimal colonoscopic strategy to determine the risk for clinical relapse in patients with ulcerative colitis.MethodsWe enrolled 325 consecutive patients with ulcerative colitis in clinical and biochemical remission from April 2018 to March 2019. Five colonic segments were endoscopically and histologically assessed systematically. For endoscopic evaluation, we used three different modes of the Ulcerative Colitis Endoscopic Index of Severity (UCEIS): “original,” “worst affected,” and “pancolonic.” The Geboes score was used for histological evaluation. We prospectively followed up the patients and defined clinical relapse as the primary endpoint.ResultsWithin 1 year after colonoscopy, 18.2% of patients experienced a clinical relapse. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed areas under the curve of 0.755, 0.817, and 0.852 for the “original,” “worst affected,” and “pancolonic” groups, respectively; hence, pancolonic UCEIS obtained the highest predictive value. Using the pancolonic UCEIS cutoff value of 3, Kaplan–Meier curve analysis showed that patients with endoscopic activity had a significantly lower relapse‐free rate than those with endoscopic remission (P < 0.01). Multivariate analysis demonstrated endoscopic (pancolonic UCEIS >3) and histological (Geboes >3.0) activities as independent risks for relapse (HR: 3.96 and 3.48, respectively). Combining pancolonic UCEIS ≤3 and Geboes score ≤3.0 to provide 1‐year relapse avoidance was 92.0% sensitive and 97.0% specific.ConclusionEvaluating disease remission by complete colonoscopy is relevant, and the combination of pancolonic endoscopic and histological evaluations may appropriately evaluate mucosal healing.

BACKGROUND:Although 5-aminosalicylate (5-ASA) is the therapy of first choice in ulcerative colitis (UC), some patients cannot tolerate it because of side effects. Previous reports have not investigated whether 5-ASA intolerance is associated with the risk of colectomy.AIM:To investigate the associations between 5-ASA tolerance and colectomy among UC patients METHODS: The data of UC patients who visited any of three hospitals during 2014-2018 in and around Tokyo, Japan, were retrospectively obtained from the medical records. Patients were categorized as (a) tolerant to any 5-ASA compounds ("tolerant to 5-ASA") and (b) patients who were intolerant to one or more 5-ASA compounds leading to refrainment from their further use ("intolerant to 5-ASA"). The association between 5-ASA tolerance and colectomy was examined by Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for sex, age, smoking and extent of colitis.RESULTS:Of 1788 patients, 1684 were "tolerant to 5-ASA" while 104 were "intolerant to 5-ASA". Colectomy was performed in 43 (2.6%) of the patients tolerant to 5-ASA and 12 (11.5%) of the patients intolerant to 5-ASA. After adjusting for all covariates, the risk of undergoing colectomy was higher in the "intolerant to 5-ASA" group than in the "tolerant to 5-ASA" group (hazard ratio: 4.92; 95% confidence interval: 2.58-9.38).CONCLUSION:Patients in whom 5-ASA was discontinued due to intolerance had a higher risk of undergoing colectomy than patients tolerant to their first, second or third 5-ASA compounds.

Abstract Background 5-Aminosalicylates (5-ASA) are the key drugs in induction and maintenance therapy in ulcerative colitis (UC). Some UC patients are involved in 5-ASA intolerance after induction of oral 5-ASA compounds. There is no evidence of the prognosis including the risk of colectomy in 5-ASA intolerant UC patients. Methods The aim of this study is to establish the prognosis of 5-ASA intolerant UC patients in a multicenter cohort study. A retrospective review of a prospective multicenter database (2014–2018) of 1,574 UC patients was carried out and a total of 1,286 patients treated with oral 5-ASA compounds were enrolled. We compared the risk of colectomy and biologics induction between patients (i) tolerant to first 5-ASA compound (1079), (ii) intolerant to first 5-ASA compound but tolerant to other 5-ASA compound (107) and (iii) intolerant to 5-ASA compound and withdrawal of 5-ASA (100). Results We identified 1,286 patients with UC, of which 40 patients (3.1%) resulted in colectomy and 247 patients (19%) treated with biologics. Colectomy rate in patients (iii) intolerant to 5-ASA and withdrawal of 5-ASA were higher than (i) tolerant to first 5-ASA and (ii) intolerant to first 5-ASA but tolerant to other 5-ASA (9.0%, 2.7%, 1.9%, respectively). (iii) Patients withdrawal of 5-ASA showed higher risk of colectomy compared with (i) tolerant to first 5-ASA (Hazard ratio (HR) 4.71, 95% Confidence interval (CI): 2.04–10.8). The risk of colectomy among (ii) patients intolerant to first 5-ASA but tolerant to other 5-ASA showed no significant difference compared with (i) tolerant to first 5-ASA (HR 0.76, 95% CI: 0.43–1.35). The biologics induction rate in (iii) patients withdrawal of 5-ASA was significantly higher than (i) tolerant to first 5-ASA and (ii) intolerant to first 5-ASA but tolerant to other 5-ASA (37%, 18%, 16%, respectively). Also (iii) patients withdrawal of 5-ASA showed higher risk of induction with biologics compared with (i) tolerant to first 5-ASA (HR 2.35, 95% CI: 1.50–3.68). Those risk among (ii) patients intolerant to first 5-ASA but tolerant to other 5-ASA showed no significant difference compared with (i) tolerant to first 5-ASA (HR 0.76, 95% CI: 0.43–1.35). Conclusion Patients with UC who had 5-ASA intolerance and withdrew from 5-ASA showed poor prognosis. We should consider trying other 5-ASA compounds even if the patients had intolerance to one 5-ASA compound.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 115 UC who had started TOF treatments between May and November 2018. The observation periods lasted up to 52 weeks after TOF administration. Patients were refractory to multiple treatments, such as corticosteroids, biologic agents, and a calcineurin inhibitor. TOF was initiated at 20 mg a day and decreasing to 10 mg a day after 8 weeks or more. All immunesuppressive agents, such as corticosteroids, immunomodulators, biologic agents, and calcineurin inhibitors, were withdrawn before starting TOF treatment. Disease activity was evaluated using the partial Mayo score (pMS), and laboratory data were collected at 4, 8, 12, 24, and 52 weeks after TOF administration. Our primary outcome was the clinical remission rate at 52 weeks; we also analyzed treatment efficacy and adverse events. We defined remission as pMS ≤ 2 without individual subscores > 1, response as a decrease of pMS by at least 2, and meeting one of the following conditions: (1) a decrease of the bleeding subscore by at least 1; (2) bleeding subscore < 1; or (3) above-defined remission induced. Failure was defined as TOF discontinuation due to symptom recurrence in patients in remission, nonresponse to TOF treatment, and serious adverse events. Differences in medians between the groups were compared using a non-parametric (Mann-Whitney), and comparisons between categorical variables were performed using chi-square test. TOF discontinuation-free survival was calculated. Kaplan-Meier curves were drawn for each subgroup and compared with log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test. SPSS version 26 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was used for statistical analysis, and the significant threshold was 0.05. pISSN 1598-9100 • eISSN 2288-1956 https://doi.org/10.5217/ir.2020.00030 Intest Res 2021;19(1):115-118

BACKGROUND & AIMS: There are intra- and interobserver variations in endoscopic assessment of ulcerative colitis (UC) and biopsies are often collected for histologic evaluation. We sought to develop a deep neural network system for consistent, objective, and real-time analysis of endoscopic images from patients with UC. METHODS: We constructed the deep neural network for evaluation of UC (DNUC) algorithm using 40,758 images of colonoscopies and 6885 biopsy results from 2012 patients with UC who underwent colonoscopy from January 2014 through March 2018 at a single center in Japan (the training set). We validated the accuracy of the DNUC algorithm in a prospective study of 875 patients with UC who underwent colonoscopy from April 2018 through April 2019, with 4187 endoscopic images and 4104 biopsy specimens. Endoscopic remission was defined as a UC endoscopic index of severity score of 0; histologic remission was defined as a Geboes score of 3 points or less. RESULTS: In the prospective study, the DNUC identified patients with endoscopic remission with 90.1% accuracy (95% confidence interval [CI] 89.2%-90.9%) and a kappa coefficient of 0.798 (95% CI 0.780-0.814), using findings reported by endoscopists as the reference standard. The intraclass correlation coefficient between the DNUC and the endoscopists for UC endoscopic index of severity scoring was 0.917 (95% CI 0.911-0.921). The DNUC identified patients in histologic remission with 92.9% accuracy (95% CI 92.1%93.7%); the kappa coefficient between the DNUC and the biopsy result was 0.859 (95% CI 0.841-0.875). CONCLUSIONS: We developed a deep neural network for evaluation of endoscopic images from patients with UC that identified those in endoscopic remission with 90.1% accuracy and histologic remission with 92.9% accuracy. The DNUC can therefore identify patients in remission without the need for mucosal biopsy collection and analysis.

Crohn’s disease (CD) is a chronic progressive inflammatory bowel disease. Assessing the severity and extent of the disease is critical to determine appropriate therapeutic strategies in patients with CD. Magnetic resonance (MR) enterography can assess both intestinal walls and extraintestinal structures without radiation exposure and anaesthesia, which makes it appropriate for repeated evaluation in CD patients. We developed novel MR enterocolonography (MREC) for simultaneously evaluating large and small intesntinal lesions of CD. The aim of this study was to establish the efficacy of the simplified 5-point MREC classification for assessing CD activity, comparing to the validated MR score of magnetic resonance index of activity (MaRIA) and endoscopic findings. A total of 120 patients (70 for derivation cohort and 50 for validation cohort) with CD were enrolled and undergone MREC and ileocolonoscopy or balloon-assisted enteroscopy (BAE). MREC results were evaluated for each bowel segment; rectum, sigmoid, descending, transverse, ascending colon, terminal, proximal ileum, and jejunum, by one observer in the derivation phase, and independently by three observers in the validation phase, using the simplified 5-point MREC (sMREC) classification lexicon and MaRIA. Areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUCs) were obtained to assess the accuracy of discriminating deep ulcers. Inter-observer reproducibility was assessed using weighted Kappa coefficients. The AUCs of sMREC classification were 89.0% in the derivation phase and 88.5, 81.0, and 77.3% for three observers in the validation phase. The AUCs of MREC classification were statistically non-inferior to those of MaRIA (p < 0.001). The cross-validation accuracy was 81.9% in the derivation and 81.5% in the validation phase. sMREC classification showed enough reproducibility. In clinical practice, scoring systems should be simple and provide appropriate levels of accuracy and reproducibility. sMREC classification met these requirements, and was demonstrated to be useful for evaluating CD activity in the large and small intestine.

Background/Aims: The pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus (TAC) is known to be largely influenced by single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CYP3A5. Patients starting TAC require careful dose adjustment, owing to the wide range of optimal dosages, depending on their CYP3A5 expression status. Here, we evaluated whether individualization of TAC dosages based on CYP3A5 SNPs would improve its therapeutic efficacy in ulcerative colitis. Methods: Twenty-one patients were prospectively treated, with their initial dosage adjusted according to their CYP3A5 status (0.1, 0.15, and 0.2 mg/kg/day for CYP3A5*3/*3, CYP3A5*1/*3, and CYP3A5*1/*1, respectively). Their clinical outcomes were compared with those of patients treated with a fixed dose (0.1 mg/kg/day). Results: The first blood trough level of CYP3A5 expressors, CYP3A5*1/*3 or CYP3A5*1/*1, and the overall rate in achieving the target blood trough level within a week in the individualized-dose group were significantly higher than those in the fixed-dose group (5.15 +/- 2.33 ng/mL vs. 9.63 +/- 0.79 ng/mL, P =0.035 and 12.5% vs. 66.7%, P =0.01). The remission rate at 2 weeks in the expressors was as high as that in the nonexpressors, CYP3A5*3/*3, in the individualized-dose group. Conclusions: Individualized TAC treatment is effective against ulcerative colitis regardless of the CYP3A5 genotype.

Chronic diarrhea is one of the major symptoms in gastroenterology. However, this may be caused by pathologic conditions for which the diagnosis is critical. Villous atrophy, as an endoscopic lesion, accompanied by chronic diarrhea can occasionally be observed in the patients with inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Herein, we present a case with persistent diarrhea accompanied by intestinal wall thickening without any other significant endoscopic features other than villous atrophy in the jejunum and the ileum, where we diagnosed as an indolent T cell lymphoproliferative disorder (T-LPD) of the GI tract, defined in the 2016–2017 revised World Health Organization classification, via single-balloon enteroscopy (SBE). Interestingly, we found the same lymphocyte infiltration from the distal third portion of the duodenum, where gastroscopy could not reach, via SBE, even though no endoscopic findings were observed such as villous atrophy. Since infiltrating cells in the intestinal tissues were CCR4 + , mogamulizumab was administered with resulting durable symptomatic remission for more than 2 years. Patients with persistent diarrhea may have serious small intestinal disorder including not only chronic inflammatory diseases but also lymphoid neoplasmic conditions including T-LPD of GI tract.

Mucosal healing (MH) is a target for induction therapy in the management of ulcerative colitis (UC). MH is defined by several endoscopic examinations and correlated with long-term clinical remission. However, the relationship between endoscopic examination and prediction of relapse rate in UC management has not been fully evaluated. We compared three endoscopic scores for the usefulness of relapse prediction after 12 months of endoscopic examination in the MH and non-mucosal healing (non-MH) group in UC. We selected 51 cases of UC who underwent endoscopy at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University hospital from September 2014 to March 2017. Clinical remission was defined as partial Mayo score (pMayo) 2 or less and all other sub-scores were 1 or less. Clinical relapse was defined as introduction of new remission induction therapy. We compared three different endoscopic scores for prediction of relapse risk in UC. MH was defined in each endoscopic scores as Mayo Endoscopy sub-score (MES) 1 or less, Rachmilewitz endoscopic index (EI) 2 or less, and ulcerative colitis Endoscopic Index of Severity (UCEIS) 2 or less, with investigation for cumulative non-relapse rate. Patient background was as follows; average age was 42.9 ± 13.2 years old, 31 males and 20 females, 31 total colitis cases, 15 left-sided colitis cases, and 5 proctitis type cases, 34 clinical remission and 17 clinical non-remission, duration of disease was 9.3 ± 6.8 years. The cumulative non-relapse rate after 12 months of endoscopic examination was not significantly different in between MH group by MES at 75%, and non-MH group by MES at 52.2% (p = 0.071). Similarly, EI showed no significant difference in between MH group 76% and non-MH group 53.8% (p = 0.32). However, UCEIS showed significant difference between MH group 81.8%, and non-MH group 33.3% (p = 0.001). It was suggested that diagnosis of MH by UCEIS might be useful for prediction of cumulative non-relapse rate after 12 months of endoscopic examination.