Cure8 research brief
Patients and clinicians may care because the study suggests contrast-enhanced CT can reliably detect and localize IBD, including transmural and small-bowel disease that biopsies miss, which could affect diagnostic pathways and imaging use in IBD care.
Clinicians who manage IBD (gastroenterologists, radiologists), researchers studying imaging diagnostics in IBD, and adult patients considering or undergoing imaging as part of diagnosis or disease assessment.
This preprint reports a retrospective cross-sectional study from a single tertiary center in Iran comparing contrast-enhanced CT of the abdomen/pelvis to colonoscopic mucosal histopathology in 100 consecutive patients with IBD (55 UC, 45 CD).
CT and biopsy were performed within 30 days and were scored independently by blinded radiologists and pathologists across eight bowel segments. The authors calculated sensitivity, specificity, Cohen’s kappa for subtype classification, and a patient-level Segmental Concordance Proportion (SCP).
The main findings in the abstract: CT showed high sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing UC and CD versus histopathology, substantial agreement by Cohen’s kappa for subtype classification, and a mean SCP around 0.78 with most patients showing good-to-perfect segmental concordance.
Per-segment sensitivity was highest for ileum and sigmoid and lowest for ascending and descending colon. The authors conclude CT is particularly useful for detecting transmural and small-bowel disease not seen on mucosal biopsy but that histopathology remains essential.
Practical points: This is an abstract-level preprint report (single-center, retrospective) that suggests contrast-enhanced CT has good agreement with biopsy for IBD classification and segmental disease in this cohort.
It supports CT’s role as complementary imaging, especially for transmural and small-bowel involvement, but does not replace mucosal biopsy for definitive diagnosis or grading.
This is a preprint abstract from a single-center, retrospective study in Iran with CT and biopsy within 30 days; results are promising but need confirmation in prospective, multicenter studies and with standardized CT scoring. As a preprint, it has not completed peer review.
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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