ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the predictive value of mucosal vascular pattern (MVP) under narrow-band imaging (NBI) enteroscopy in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) in clinical remission for histological healing and clinical recurrence.Methods:A total of 142 patients with UC in clinical remission who visited the First Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical University from January 2018 to January 2021 were included in the study and underwent colonoscopy. The white light and NBI endoscopic images were collected and biopsies were obtained. The Mayo endoscopic score (MES) was calculated based on white light images, and MVP staging was evaluated based on mucosal vascular patterns under NBI. Nancy index (NI) was used to evaluate histological healing and patients were followed up for 1 year. The Spearman correlation coefficients of MES and MVP with histological healing and recurrence were calculated. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted and the area under curve (AUC) was applied to evaluate the accuracy of white light and NBI endoscopy for predicting histological healing of UC in clinical remission.Results:According to the MVP criteria, 47 were defined as clear, 63 blurred, and 32 invisible. Spearman correlation analysis showed a significant correlation between MVP under NBI and histological healing ( r=0.549, P<0.001) and a moderate correlation between MES under white light and histological healing ( r=0.462, P<0.001). Spearman correlation analysis showed a moderate correlation between MVP under NBI and clinical recurrence ( r=0.451, P<0.001) and a moderate correlation between MES under white light and clinical recurrence ( r=0.352, P<0.001). AUC of NBI for diagnosing histological healing of UC in clinical remission was 0.809 (95% CI: 0.738-0.879), with a sensitivity of 84.6% (77/91) and specificity of 64.7% (33/51), superior to the white light endoscopy, of which AUC, sensitivity and specificity were 0.763 (95% CI: 0.678-0.848), 81.3% (74/91) and 66.7% (34/51). Conclusion:MVP staging under NBI could predict histological healing of UC patients in clinical remission and is superior to white light endoscopy.