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Mucosal Healing Predicts the Long-Term Prognosis of Intestinal Behçet’s Disease

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Abstract

Background

Mucosal healing (MH) has emerged as a therapeutic goal in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease; however, little is known about the impact of MH on the prognosis of intestinal Behçet’s disease (BD).

Aim

We investigated whether MH could predict the prognosis of intestinal BD.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 80 patients with intestinal BD who underwent colonoscopy within 3 months after clinical remission. The clinical recurrence rate according to the presence or absence of MH was evaluated using the Kaplan–Meier method and the log-rank test. In order to evaluate MH as an independent prognostic factor, a multivariate analysis using Cox proportional hazards regression model was performed including other potential factors for the relapse of intestinal BD.

Results

The number of patients with active ulcers at the time of clinical remission was 57 (71.3 %), while 23 patients (28.7 %) were experiencing MH. In the active ulcer group, 39 patients (68.4 %) experienced recurrence during the follow-up period, whereas 7 patients (30.4 %) recurred in the MH group. The cumulative recurrence rate was significantly higher in the active ulcer group than in the MH group (P < 0.001). A multivariate analysis identified active ulcers at the time of clinical remission as an independent predictive factor for relapse.

Conclusion

Our study demonstrates that MH is an independent factor predictive of long-term prognosis of intestinal BD. MH might be the ultimate therapeutic goal in the treatment of intestinal BD.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Grant of the Korean Health Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea (Grant Number A111428), the “Kiturami” Faculty Research Assistance Program of Yonsei University College of Medicine for 2012 (6-2012-0150), a faculty research Grant of Yonsei University College of Medicine for 2012(6-2012-0135 and 6-2012-0163), and a Grant of the Korean Health Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea (Grant Number A120176).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine and Institute of Gastroenterology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 120-752, Korea

    Sun Mie Yim, Duk Hwan Kim, Hyun Jung Lee, Hui Won Jang, Soo Jung Park, Sung Pil Hong, Tae Il Kim, Won Ho Kim & Jae Hee Cheon

  2. Brain Korea 21 Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

    Tae Il Kim, Won Ho Kim & Jae Hee Cheon

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  1. Sun Mie Yim
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  2. Duk Hwan Kim
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  3. Hyun Jung Lee
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  4. Hui Won Jang
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  5. Soo Jung Park
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  6. Sung Pil Hong
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  7. Tae Il Kim
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  8. Won Ho Kim
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  9. Jae Hee Cheon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jae Hee Cheon.

Additional information

Sun Mie Yim and Duk Hwan Kim have contributed equally to this work.

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Yim, S.M., Kim, D.H., Lee, H.J. et al. Mucosal Healing Predicts the Long-Term Prognosis of Intestinal Behçet’s Disease. Dig Dis Sci 59, 2529–2535 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-014-3198-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-014-3198-z

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