Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 May;9(4):438-442.
doi: 10.1177/2050640620980203. Epub 2021 Feb 16.

Milan ultrasound criteria are accurate in assessing disease activity in ulcerative colitis: external validation

Mariangela Allocca  1   2 , Elisabetta Filippi  3 , Andrea Costantino  3 , Stefanos Bonovas  1   2 , Gionata Fiorino  1   2 , Federica Furfaro  1 , Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet  4 , Mirella Fraquelli  3   5 , Flavio Caprioli  3   5 , Silvio Danese  1   2
Affiliations

Milan ultrasound criteria are accurate in assessing disease activity in ulcerative colitis: external validation

Mariangela Allocca et al. United European Gastroenterol J. 2021 May.

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study was to provide an external validation of bowel ultrasound (US) predictors of activity in ulcerative colitis (UC) and quantitative Milan Ultrasound Criteria (MUC).

Methods: Forty-three consecutive patients with UC (16 in endoscopic remission and 27 with endoscopic activity) underwent bowel US and colonoscopy in a tertiary referral inflammatory bowel disease unit.

Results: An MUC score >6.2 discriminated patients with active versus non-active UC with a sensitivity of 0.85 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.66-0.96), specificity of 0.94 (95% CI 0.70-0.99) and an area under the curve of 0.902 (95% CI 0.772-0.971) in complete agreement with the derivation study.

Conclusion: The external validation of MUC confirms that it is an accurate tool for assessing disease activity in patients with UC.

Keywords: Milan Ultrasound Criteria; bowel ultrasound; gastrointestinal ultrasound; inflammatorybowel disease; mucosal healing; ulcerative colitis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article. Mariangela Allocca received consulting fees from Nikkiso Europe, Mundipharma, Janssen, Abbvie and Pfizer; Gionata Fiorino received consultancy fees from Ferring, MSD, AbbVie, Takeda, Janssen, Amgen, Sandoz, Samsung Bioepis and Celltrion; Federica Furfaro received consulting fees from Amgen and Abbvie and lecture fees from Janssen and Pfizer; Laurent Peyrin‐Biroulet reports personal fees from Merck, Abbvie, Janssen, Genentech, Mitsubishi, Ferring, Norgine, Tillots, Vifor, Hospira/Pfizer, Celltrion, Takeda, Biogaran, Boerhinger‐Ingelheim, Lilly, HAC‐Pharma, Index Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Sandoz, Forward Pharma GmbH, Celgene, Biogen, Lycera and Samsung Biosepsis; Flavio Caprioli served as a consultant to Mundipharma, Abbvie, MSD, Takeda, Janssen, Roche and Celgene, and received lecture fees from Abbvie, Ferring, Takeda, Allergy Therapeutics and Janssen and unrestricted research grants from Giuliani, Sofar, MS&D, Takeda and Abbvie; Silvio Danese served as a speaker, consultant and advisory board member for Schering‐Plough, Abbott (AbbVie) Laboratories, Merck, UCB Pharma, Ferring, Cellerix, Millenium Takeda, Nycomed, Pharmacosmos, Actelion, Alfa Wasserman, Genentech, Grunenthal, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, Cosmo Pharmaceuticals, Vifor and Johnson and Johnson. Elisabetta Filippi, Andrea Costantino, Stefanos Bonovas and Mirella Fraquelli have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Distribution of the Milan Ultrasound Criteria (MUC) in a cohort of patients with ulcerative colitis
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Comparison of receiver operating characteristic curves: ‘Milan Ultrasound Criteria (MUC) alone’ (continuous line) versus ‘MUC + FC’ (dashed line). No statistically significant difference was observed (p = 0.101). FC, faecal calprotectin
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Gordon IO, Agrawal N, Willis E, et al. Fibrosis in ulcerative colitis is directly linked to severity and chronicity of mucosal inflammation. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2018;47:922–39. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Peyrin‐Biroulet L, Sandborn W, Sands BE, et al. Selecting Therapeutic Targets in Inflammatory Bowel isease (STRIDE): determining therapeutic goals for treat‐to‐target. Am J Gastroenterol. 2015;110:1324–38. - PubMed
    1. Bryant RV, Friedman AB, Wright EK, et al. Gastrointestinal ultrasound in inflammatory bowel disease: an underused resource with potential paradigm‐ changing application. Gut. 2018;67:973–85. - PubMed
    1. Maconi G, Ardizzone S, Parente F, et al. Ultrasonography in the evaluation of extension, activity, and follow‐up of ulcerative colitis. Scand J Gastroenterol. 1999;34:1103–7. - PubMed
    1. Antonelli E, Giuliano V, Casella G, et al. Ultrasonographic assessment of colonic wall in moderate‐severe ulcerative colitis: comparison with endoscopic findings. Dig Liver Dis. 2011;43:703–6. - PubMed

Publication types