Objective: To assess the factors associated with the progression of isolated terminal ileal lesions (ITILs) at colonoscopy in Chinese patients.
Methods: Patients diagnosed with ITILs were enrolled. The ileoscopy was performed by two experienced gastroenterologists every 52 weeks. A logistic regression analysis was used to elucidate the factors associated with Crohn's disease (CD) and mucosal healing. A log rank test was used to assess the differences of the cumulative proportion of CD and mucosal healing in different groups at different times.
Results: (1) A total of 34 patients were included and no patient had taken nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug in the last 6 months; eight (23.5%) patients had a clinical diagnosis of CD, 14 (41.2%) patients achieved mucosal healing, and 12 (35.3%) patients showed no significant changes in the lesions at last follow-up. (2) The logistic regression analysis showed that only abdominal pain was a factor in the ITIL disease outcomes. (3) The cumulative proportion of CD in the abdominal pain group after 3 years was statistically higher than that in the non-abdominal pain group (42.7% vs. 6.2%, χ2 = 10.129, P = 0.001). However, the cumulative proportion of mucosal healing in the non-abdominal pain group was statistically higher than that in the abdominal pain group (73.3% vs. 5.6%, χ2 = 5.225, P = 0.022). (4) The numbers of lesions observed on the initial colonoscopy exams and the initial histologic findings were not related to the ITIL disease outcomes.
Conclusions: Clinical symptoms may be related to ITIL disease outcomes. Patients with abdominal pain had a high likelihood of CD, whereas those without abdominal pain had a high likelihood of mucosal healing.