Has the time been reached for pseudopolyps to be re-enrolled in endoscopic inflammatory bowel disease scores?

World J Gastrointest Endosc. 2019 Jun 16;11(6):424-426. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v11.i6.424.

Abstract

Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) represent heterogeneous groups with different characteristics and different clinical course. A great deal of effort is made to discover proxies for more severe disease needing more intense treatment and early intervention to gain the maximum therapeutic benefit. Endoscopy remains an invaluable method in assessment of patients with IBD. Pseudopolyps are often encountered during endoscopy and, although they are a well described entity, their presence is of unclear importance. In one of our recent studies and in conjunction with one study with a large cohort of patients with IBD and pseudopolyps, patients with pseudopolyps were found to face a higher inflammatory burden in terms of receiving more intense biological treatment. This letter comes as a comment and proposition regarding the concept of re-evaluation of pseudopolyps as a promising marker in IBD scores.

Keywords: Endoscopic scores; Inflammatory bowel diseases; Pseudopolyps; Treatment escalation.