Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2021 May 20;izab125. doi: 10.1093/ibd/izab125. Online ahead of print.

Elsa A van Wassenaer ^1 2 3, Marc A Benninga ^1 2 3, Johan L van Limbergen ^1 2 3, Geert R D'Haens ⁴, Anne M Griffiths ⁵, Bart G P Koot ^1 2 3

Author information

• ¹Emma Children's Hospital, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Pediatric Gastroenterology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• ²Amsterdam Reproduction & Development Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• ³Amsterdam Gastroenterology Endocrinology Metabolism Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam,  The Netherlands.
• ⁴Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam,  The Netherlands.
• ⁵Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Department of Pediatrics, Toronto, Ontario,  Canada.

Abstract

Intestinal ultrasound (IUS) is increasingly used and promulgated as a noninvasive monitoring tool for children with inflammatory bowel disease because other diagnostic modalities such as colonoscopy and magnetic resonance imaging cause significant stress in the pediatric population. The most important parameters of inflammation that can be assessed using IUS are bowel wall thickness and hyperemia of the bowel wall. Research has shown that IUS has the potential to be a valuable additional point-of-care tool to guide treatment choice and to monitor and predict treatment response, although evidence of its accuracy and value in clinical practice is still limited. This review gives an update and overview of the current evidence on the use and accuracy of IUS in children with inflammatory bowel disease.