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
. 2025 Sep 4.
doi: 10.1007/s00428-025-04239-7. Online ahead of print.

Implementation of IBD-DCA for ulcerative colitis: a single-institution experience

David Egong  1 , Michéal Hanly  2 , Erinn McGrath  3 , Maura B Cotter  3 , Garret Cullen  2   4   5   6 , Juliette Sheridan  2   4   5   6 , Glen Doherty  2   4   5   6 , Kieran Sheahan  3   4   6
Affiliations

Implementation of IBD-DCA for ulcerative colitis: a single-institution experience

David Egong et al. Virchows Arch. .

Abstract

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a clinicopathologically challenging diagnosis that greatly impacts patients' quality of life. The recently developed Inflammatory Bowel Disease-Distribution, Chronicity, Activity (IBD-DCA) scoring system offers histopathologists a consistent template to report colonic biopsies from UC patients in a standardised manner. We reviewed the rate of uptake of the IBD-DCA system within our department since its inception in 2022, and statistically correlated our histological findings with the corresponding UC Endoscopic Index of Severity (UCEIS). Of the 449 cases of IBD biopsies reported, 291 were established UC cases. The uptake of the IBD-DCA reporting format reached beyond 95% across all biopsy sites, with noted variation in applying the scoring system to rectal biopsies. Kendall's tau correlation of the 116 UC cases reported in the first six months with their UCEIS revealed a moderate positive correlation between histological activity and all components of the UCEIS (all τ > 0.260, p < 0.05). Possible explanations for histological-endoscopic discrepancies include non-representative endoscopic sampling, differences in detection threshold, and the pan-colonic nature of the UCEIS. We call for the application of the IBD-DCA in future clinical trials to predict possible relapses and guide treatment dosages.

Keywords: IBD-DCA; UCEIS; Ulcerative colitis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was approved by the Ethics and Medical Research Committee of the St Vincent’s Hospital Group (reference number: RS12-001). Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests. Disclaimer: The early set of data (first six months) was presented as a poster at the 19th Congress of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO) in February 2024.

References

    1. Ordás I, Eckmann L, Talamini M et al (2012) Ulcerative colitis. Lancet 380:1606–1619 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mosli MH, Parker CE, Nelson SA et al (2017) Histologic scoring indices for evaluation of disease activity in ulcerative colitis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 5:CD011256
    1. Neurath MF, Vieth M (2023) Different levels of healing in inflammatory bowel diseases: mucosal, histological, transmural, barrier and complete healing. Gut 72:2164–2183 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Park S, Abdi T, Gentry M et al (2016) Histological disease activity as a predictor of clinical relapse among patients with ulcerative colitis: systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Gastroenterol 111:1692–1701 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bessissow T, Kron CM, Marcus V et al (2022) Impact of endoscopic and histologic activity on disease relapse in ulcerative colitis. Am J Gastroenterol 117:1632–1638 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources