Endoscopic Disease Activity in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Endoscopic scoring systems in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis aim to translate the assessment of mucosal disease activity into a quantified value. This value seeks to provide a clear, objective record of the endoscopic mucosal severity, which can then be used to guide medical management decisions. The primary driver of all endoscopic indices, however, is to define a scale of responsiveness for therapeutic endpoints in clinical trials. Mucosal healing now has widespread acceptance as a therapeutic and clinical endpoint, but despite the development of multiple endoscopic scoring systems, the endoscopic definition has yet to be resolved. This review describes recent advances in endoscopic scoring systems for ulcerative colitis (Mayo Clinic endoscopy subscore, UCEIS, and UCCIS among others) and for Crohn's disease.