Cure8 research brief
Transmural healing may better reflect the full depth of inflammation in Crohn’s disease than mucosal healing alone and is associated with improved long-term outcomes in many studies. If validated and adopted, TH could become a more meaningful treatment goal for people with CD.
Clinicians managing Crohn’s disease, researchers studying disease-modification endpoints, patients (especially those early in disease or on advanced therapies), and clinicians using cross-sectional imaging (ultrasound, MR enterography).
This review article examines transmural healing (TH) in Crohn’s disease — what it means, how it’s measured (mainly intestinal ultrasound and MR enterography), and whether it’s achievable with current therapies.
The authors summarize evidence linking TH to better longer-term outcomes (lower hospitalization, surgery, relapse, treatment escalation, and bowel-damage progression) and note substantial variability in how TH is defined across studies.
The review reports that TH appears achievable in a meaningful subset of patients, especially with early use of advanced therapies, but exact rates depend on the therapy class, disease features, and imaging criteria used.
The paper calls for harmonized imaging definitions and prospective work to test whether targeting TH improves long-term disease modification. The article is a literature review/summary (abstract-level in this record) rather than a new trial; it synthesizes existing studies and highlights gaps and future directions.
This record is an abstracted literature review (Diagnostics journal) summarizing published studies rather than a single clinical trial. Definitions and imaging criteria for TH vary across studies, so findings are not yet uniform. Prospective trials are needed to determine whether aiming for TH improves long-term outcomes.
Review the original publication for the complete reporting, methods, and context.
This Cure8 brief is based on source text from the linked article. Cure8 is informational only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
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