Background/Aims Acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC) is a time-critical situation requiring urgent intervention. Limited data exist on the evolving clinical spectrum of ASUC in the era of advanced therapies.
Methods This prospective real-world observational cohort study included 145 adult patients hospitalized with ASUC between January 2020 and June 2024. ASUC was defined by the modified Truelove and Witts criteria. Demographics and disease characteristics, including disease severity, probable precipitating factors, and corticosteroid failure rates, were recorded.
Results The median age of patients was 36 years (interquartile range, 26–48.5 years) with 63 females (43.4%). Most patients had left-sided colitis (53.1%). The median disease duration was 1 year (IQR, 0.5–3 years), with 91 patients (62.7%) presenting with ASUC within the first year of diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. One-third of the patients had previous exposure to biologics and small molecules. The most commonly reported probable precipitants of ASUC were poor compliance with treatment (n = 43, 29.6%), antibiotic use (n = 35, 24.1%), high perceived stress (n = 32, 22.1%), and Clostridioides difficile infection (n = 19, 13.1%). Forty patients (27.5%) were non-responders to intravenous corticosteroids (IVCS). Twenty-nine patients (20%) received medical rescue therapy (infliximab, n = 14 [48.27%], cyclosporine A, n = 6 [20.68%], and tofacitinib, n = 9 [31.03%]). Seven patients (4.82%; 4 after non-response to IVCS and 3 after non-response to medical rescue therapy) underwent colectomy.
Conclusions In this cohort of ASUC patients, poor treatment compliance, antibiotic use, stress, and C. difficile infection were common precipitants of flare-ups. Nearly one-third of patients required medical rescue therapy, and a small proportion ultimately underwent colectomy.
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Results We demonstrate a fair to moderate correlation between clinical, endoscopic, and histologic measures of disease activity in UC. There was a robust concordance among GS, Continuous GS, NI, and RHI in distinguishing between patients in histologic remission or activity. The NI detected 75% of patients who met the remission criteria according to the RHI, whereas the RHI identified all patients in remission as defined by the NI. FC levels below 150 μg/g had >70% accuracy in predicting endoscopic remission. FC levels below 150 μg/g showed ≥80% accuracy, and FC levels below 100 μg/g demonstrated ≥ 85% accuracy in predicting histologic remission, regardless of the scoring index applied. Elevated FC levels were associated with both acute and chronic inflammatory infiltrates in biopsy samples.
Conclusions FC is a reliable predictor of histologic remission, with higher accuracy at lower thresholds. The GS, Continuous GS, NI, and RHI demonstrate comparable performance. FC could help stratify patients’ need for colonoscopy for the assessment of endoscopic and histologic remission.
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