Gm. Ettorre et al., Mucosal changes in ileal pouches after restorative proctocolectomy for ulcerative and Crohn's colitis, DIS COL REC, 43(12), 2000, pp. 1743-1748
PURPOSE: inflammation and dysplasia may affect the ileal pouch after restor
ative proctocolectomy and ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. The aim of this pro
spective study was to evaluate the morphologic changes and the risk of dysp
lasia within the pouch after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. METHODS: Thirty-
seven patients with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis underwent endoscopies and
biopsies of the pouch: 21 patients were affected by ulcerative colitis and
16 by Crohn's colitis. The mucosal biopsy specimens were studied to investi
gate the degree of acute and chronic inflammation and the occurrence of dys
plasia. A score system was calculated for each patient and correlated with
the histologic diagnosis of ulcerative colitis or Crohn's colitis. RESULTS:
After a median follow-up of 85 (range, 7-198) months, the inflammation his
tologic score evaluated was 3.8 (95 percent confidence interval, 2.4-5.1) a
nd 3.5 (95 percent confidence interval, 2.6-4.3), respectively, in patients
with Crohn's colitis and ulcerative colitis (mean and 95 percent confidenc
e interval; P = 0.74, not significant), and no patient developed mucosal dy
splasia. Fifteen patients (40.5 percent) developed clinical pouchitis that
occurred in Crohn's colitis (9/16 patients or 56 percent) and in ulcerative
colitis (6/21 patients or 28 percent; P not significant). The score was 4.
1 (95 percent confidence interval, 3.2-5) in patients with pouchitis and 3.
2 (95 percent confidence interval, 2.1-4.3) in patients without clinical po
uchitis (P = 0.012) and was 4.1 (95 percent confidence interval, 2.6-5.5) a
nd 4.1 (95 percent confidence interval, 2.9-5.3), respectively, in pouchiti
s patients with Crohn's colitis and ulcerative colitis. CONCLUSION: No diff
erence in the inflammation histologic score was observed in ileal pouches a
fter restorative proctocolectomy for ulcerative and Crohn's colitis. In our
series, which includes those patients with longer follow-up (>5 years) or
with chronic unremitting pouchitis, no case of dysplasia was found. The occ
urrence of pouchitis was higher in the case of ileal pouch-anal anastomosis
for Crohn's disease than for ulcerative colitis, but no difference in the
severity of the histologic score was noted.