Gastrointestinal ultrasound in inflammatory bowel disease care: Patient perceptions and impact on disease-related knowledge

Arvind Rajagopalan; Dharshan Sathananthan; Yoon-Kyo An; Lucinda Van De Ven; Serena Martin; James Fon; Samuel P Costello; Jakob Begun; Robert V Bryant

doi:10.1002/jgh3.12268

Gastrointestinal ultrasound in inflammatory bowel disease care: Patient perceptions and impact on disease-related knowledge

JGH Open. 2019 Oct 9;4(2):267-272. doi: 10.1002/jgh3.12268. eCollection 2020 Apr.

Authors

Arvind Rajagopalan¹, Dharshan Sathananthan^{1

2}, Yoon-Kyo An³, Lucinda Van De Ven¹, Serena Martin¹, James Fon¹, Samuel P Costello^{1

2}, Jakob Begun^{3

4}, Robert V Bryant^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ IBD Service, Department of Gastroenterology The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Adelaide South Australia Australia.
² School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Science University of Adelaide Adelaide South Australia Australia.
³ Department of Gastroenterology Mater Hospital Brisbane Queensland Australia.
⁴ Faculty of Medicine University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland Australia.

Abstract

Background and aim: Objective monitoring of disease activity is integral to therapeutic decision-making in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Data are sparse on patients' perspectives of tools used to monitor disease activity in IBD. To evaluate patients' perspectives of gastrointestinal ultrasound (GIUS) performed during routine IBD clinical care, along with its impact on IBD-specific knowledge.

Methods: Patients with a formal diagnosis of IBD who underwent GIUS at two tertiary IBD services between March 2017 and January 2019 participated in this prospective study. Participants completed a questionnaire measuring the acceptability, tolerability, and usefulness of GIUS using a visual analogue scale (VAS) from 0 (disagree) to 10 (strongly agree). Comparative acceptability of IBD monitoring tools and the impact of GIUS on IBD-specific knowledge was measured.

Results: A total of 121 participants completed the questionnaire, with a mean age of 42 years (range 17-78), 54 (45%) males, and 79 (65%) Crohn's disease patients. In the overall population, GIUS was scored as highly acceptable for monitoring IBD (mean 9.20 ± 1.37) compared to colonoscopy (7.94 ± 2.30), stool sampling (8.17 ± 1.96), blood sampling (8.87 ± 1.62), and imaging (8.67 ± 1.60); P < 0.01 for each comparison. GIUS caused little patient discomfort (1.88 ± 1.83), and 98 (81%) participants ranked GIUS as their preferred IBD monitoring tool. GIUS also improved patients' overall IBD-specific knowledge (VAS IBD-specific knowledge 7.96 ± 1.92), including their understanding of the need for medical therapy and disease extent.

Conclusion: GIUS is a highly acceptable and well-tolerated tool for monitoring disease activity in IBD patients. GIUS is preferred by patients and enhances IBD-specific knowledge.

Keywords: gastrointestinal ultrasound; inflammatory bowel disease; inflammatory bowel disease imaging; patient perceptions; point‐of‐care ultrasound.