• Xinjue He, Yue Chen, Xinxin Zhou, and Chao Lu.
• Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
• Arch Iran Med. 2023 Aug 1; 26 (8): 434438434-438.

BackgroundIsolated terminal ileal ulcers (ITIUs) may be a clue to hidden intestinal diseases. However, there are no specific guidelines for ITIUs.MethodsWe retrospectively screened subjects undergoing colonoscopy at The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University from March 2014 to July 2019, and included patients with ITIUs in the study. Some patients underwent further examination of the entire small intestine. Subsequently, patients with undetermined ITIUs received empiric therapy or observational follow-up. At least one year after baseline colonoscopy, telephone follow-up was performed to collect prognostic information.ResultsA total of 120 (0.3%) patients undergoing colonoscopy in our center were found with ITIUs. Fourteen patients underwent further examination of the entire small intestine, six of whom were found with additional small bowel ulcers, but it did not significantly help the diagnosis. We obtained follow-up information from 41 undiagnosed patients. Over an average follow-up of 35.4 months, there was no significant difference in the prognosis of patients receiving empiric therapy or observational follow-up. The clinical and endoscopic outcomes improved or remain unchanged in most patients. In logistic regression analysis, gender, age, chief complaint, number of ulcers, and follow-up strategy had no significant impact on prognosis.ConclusionPatients with nonspecific ITIUs usually improve without any therapy, and observational follow-up may be a reasonable strategy.© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

12 keywords...

hide…