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: An 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.