Curr Gastroenterol Rep. 2023 Nov;25(11):355-361.doi: 10.1007/s11894-023-00892-7. Epub 2023 Aug 25.

Michael Todd Dolinger ¹, Amelia Kellar ²

Author information

¹Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York; Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, 17 E 102nd Street, 5th floor east, New York, NY, 10029-5204, USA. Michael.Dolinger@mssm.edu.

²Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York; Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, 17 E 102nd Street, 5th floor east, New York, NY, 10029-5204, USA.

Abstract

Purpose of review: Intestinal ultrasound (IUS) is an emerging non-invasive point-of-care tool utilized by pediatric gastroenterologists for accurately detecting and monitoring inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) activity. In this article, we reviewed the evidence supporting and technique to perform IUS for children with IBD.

Recent findings: IUS technique can visualize the colon from the distal sigmoid until the cecum and the terminal ileum without the need for bowel preparation, fasting, or sedation in children with IBD. IUS has been shown to be accurate to endoscopy in children with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. IUS may be the most accurate biomarker to follow as a marker of treatment response that is predictive of endoscopic outcomes in children with IBD. Multiple studies have demonstrated that IUS can be performed at the point-of-care for IBD activity assessment in children. Recent studies have demonstrated the accuracy of IUS to endoscopy and magnetic resonance enterography with an ability to be repeated as a monitor of treatment response for tight control monitoring.