Gastrointestinal ultrasound (GIUS) has gained an important role in the last decades
as the first diagnostic tool for assessing patients with suspected inflammatory bowel
disease and for the management and follow up of those with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative
colitis. Thanks to its accuracy, repeatability and lack of invasiveness, GIUS is nowadays
one of the preferred diagnostic tools in several IBD units both by doctors and their
patients.
Abscess in Crohn’s disease
Despite these well-recognized advantages by international guidelines and increasing
worldwide interest in GIUS for IBD, its use in real life has still some limitations.
This is mainly due to the need of standardization and general agreement in the definition
of the luminal and extra-intestinal features of the disease which has a great impact
on training and in spreading its use, in particular among those physicians and specialist
who regard ultrasound with skepticism due to its infamous operator-dependence.
For this reason our international team of experts in GIUS, under the umbrella of the
European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, developed
GIUS recommendations for assessing IBD, which will be shortly published as “EFSUMB
Recommendations and Guidelines for Gastrointestinal ultrasound in IBD” in Ultraschall
in der Medizin/European Journal of Ultrasound
Starting from the analysis of the literature, which has been assessed according to
the level of scientific evidence, and taking into account the authors’ great experience
in intestinal ultrasound, the members of the task force group developed 34 recommendations
with correspondent level of evidence, showing for the first time the sonographic criteria
for defining and assessing Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
It has to be underlined that these guidelines, which are part of a guideline-series
on GIUS that also covered examination of normal gastroinestinal tract and will cover
transrectal / perineal ultrasound, acute inflammatory disorders, functional disorders
and miscellaneous pathologies, present the consensus on current data on sonographic
features of IBD, and summarise the accuracy of different sonographic modalities for
the management of IBD patients to be used in the clinical setting, as well as in scientific
studies.
We hope you will find these guidelines and recommendations helpful in your clinical
work and an inspiration for future research.
Prof. Giovanni Maconi, Milan, Italy on behalf of the GIUS Task Force Group,
