Has the time been reached for pseudopolyps to be re-enrolled in endoscopic inflammatory bowel disease scores?

Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) represent heterogeneous groups with different characteristics and different clinical course. A great deal of effort is made to discover proxies for more severe disease needing more intense treatment and early intervention to gain the maximum therapeutic benefit. Endoscopy remains an invaluable method in assessment of patients with IBD. Pseudopolyps are often encountered during endoscopy and, although they are a well described entity, their presence is of unclear importance. In one of our recent studies and in conjunction with one study with a large cohort of patients with IBD and pseudopolyps, patients with pseudopolyps were found to face a higher inflammatory burden in terms of receiving more intense biological treatment. This letter comes as a comment and proposition regarding the concept of re-evaluation of pseudopolyps as a promising marker in IBD scores.

Presence of pseudopolyps in ulcerative colitis is associated with a higher risk for treatment escalation.

BACKGROUND: Pseudopolyps in ulcerative colitis (UC) are considered as indicators of previous episodes of severe inflammation and ulceration of the mucosa. The aim of the study was to investigate the long-term outcomes of patients treated for UC, with or without pseudopolyps. METHODS: This was a retrospective single-center study. Consecutive patients with UC and available endoscopic data from 2000 until 2016 were eligible for the study and were followed until June 2017. Patients with incomplete medical/endoscopic charts or interrupted follow up were excluded from the study. Primary outcomes included time to treatment escalation, treatment escalation to biological agents or surgery, and UC-related hospitalization. RESULTS: Eighty-three UC patients were included in the study, of whom 25 (30%) had pseudopolyps. The median duration of follow up was 2.8 years (interquartile range: 1.1-4.9). Multiple Cox regression analysis identified the presence of pseudopolyps as the only variable independently associated with treatment escalation (hazard ratio [HR] 2.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2-4.3; P=0.014) and escalation to biological agents or surgery (HR 6.3, 95%CI 1.9-20.7; P=0.002). CONCLUSION: This retrospective single-center study provides the first preliminary evidence that patients with UC and pseudopolyps may represent a subpopulation with a higher inflammatory burden and a greater need for treatment escalation, including to biological agents or surgery. Large, prospective multicenter studies are certainly warranted to confirm these findings.

Pseudopolyps in inflammatory bowel diseases: Have we learned enough?

Pseudopolyps are a well described entity in the literature and even though the exact pathogenesis of their formation is not completely understood, they are considered non-neoplastic lesions originating from the mucosa after repeated periods of inflammation and ulceration associated with excessive healing processes. Their occurrence is less common in Crohn's disease than in ulcerative colitis, and their overall prevalence ranges from 4% to 74%; moreover, they are found more often in colon but have been detected in other parts of the gastrointestinal tract as well. When their size exceeds the arbitrary point of 1.5 cm, they are classified as giant pseudopolyps. Clinical evaluation should differentiate the pseudopolyps from other polypoid lesions, such as the dysplasia-associated mass or lesion, but this situation represents an ongoing clinical challenge. Pseudopolyps can provoke complications such as bleeding or obstruction, and their management includes medical therapy, endoscopy and surgery; however, no consensus exists about the optimal treatment approach. Patients with pseudopolyps are considered at intermediate risk for colorectal cancer and regular endoscopic monitoring is recommended. Through a review of the literature, we provide here a proposed classification of the characteristics of pseudopolyps.