Milan Ultrasound Criteria are accurate in assessing disease activity in ulcerative colitis: External validation

Introduction: The aim of this study was to provide an external validation of bowel ultrasound (US) predictors of activity in ulcerative colitis (UC) and quantitative Milan Ultrasound Criteria (MUC). Methods: Forty-three consecutive patients with UC (16 in endoscopic remission and 27 with endoscopic activity) underwent bowel US and colonoscopy in a tertiary referral inflammatory bowel disease unit. Results: A MUC score >6.2 discriminated patients with active versus non-active UC with a sensitivity of 0.85 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.66‒0.96), specificity of 0.94 (95% CI 0.70‒0.99) and an area under the curve of 0.902 (95% CI 0.772‒0.971) in complete agreement with the derivation study. Conclusion: The external validation of MUC confirms that it is an accurate tool for assessing disease activity in patients with UC.