Gastroenterology Division, AO Ordine Mauriziano, Torino, Italy.
J Crohns Colitis. 2011 Oct;5(5):484-98. doi: 10.1016/j.crohns.2011.07.003. Epub 2011 Aug 11.
The healing of the intestine is becoming an important objective in the management of inflammatory bowel diseases. It is associated with improved disease outcome. Therefore the assessment of this healing both in clinical studies and routine practice is a key issue. Endoscopy for the colon and terminal ileum and computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging for the small bowel are the most direct ways to evaluate intestinal healing. However, there are many unsolved questions about the definition and the precise assessment of intestinal healing using these endoscopic and imaging techniques. Furthermore, these are relatively invasive and expensive procedures that may be inadequate for regular patients' monitoring. Therefore, biomarkers such as C-reactive protein and fecal calprotectin have been proposed as surrogate markers for intestinal healing. Nevertheless, the sensitivity and specificity of these markers for the prediction of healing may be insufficient for routine practice. New stool, blood or intestinal biomarkers are currently studied and may improve our ability to monitor intestinal healing in the future.
肠的愈合正在成为炎症性肠病治疗的一个重要目标。它与改善疾病结局相关。因此，评估这种愈合无论是在临床研究中还是在常规实践中都是一个关键问题。结肠镜检查结肠和末端回肠，计算机断层扫描或磁共振成像检查小肠是评估肠愈合最直接的方法。然而，关于使用这些内镜和影像学技术来定义和精确评估肠愈合，仍存在许多尚未解决的问题。此外，这些方法具有一定的侵袭性且费用较高，可能无法满足常规患者监测的需求。因此，C 反应蛋白和粪便钙卫蛋白等生物标志物已被提议作为肠愈合的替代标志物。然而，这些标志物预测愈合的敏感性和特异性可能不足以用于常规实践。目前正在研究新的粪便、血液或肠道生物标志物，未来可能会提高我们监测肠愈合的能力。
