Endoscopic alterations in Peyer's patches in patients with ulcerative colitis: A prospective, multicenter study.

Background and Aim Peyer's patches (PPs) play a major role in intestinal mucosal immunity; however, their role in ulcerative colitis (UC) is not well investigated. We evaluated endoscopic features of PPs on narrow-band imaging with magnifying endoscopy (NBI-ME) and investigated their association with clinical factors. Methods We prospectively recruited 105 patients with UC, 18 with Crohn's disease, 16 with disease control, and 33 healthy control subjects at three institutions from 2014 to 2017. NBI-ME images of the villi of PPs were evaluated according to the Villi Index, and patients were divided into the Villi Index low (L) and high (H) types. The 1-year sustained clinical remission rate was evaluated between L-type and H-type PPs in patients with UC. Results The proportions of patients with H-type PPs were significantly higher among UC, Crohn's disease, and disease control patients than among healthy control patients (P= 0.0125, 0.018, 0.0007). In UC, age, gender, endoscopic score, and extent of disease involvement were not significantly different between L-type and H-type PPs, whereas the sustained clinical remission rate was significantly higher in L-type PPs than in H-type PPs (88% [57/65]vs65% [17/26],P= 0.019). Multivariate analysis revealed that the L type of PPs was a significant factor for sustained clinical remission (odds ratio 3.8, 95% confidence interval 1.1-12.9,P= 0.033). Conclusions Patients with UC showed endoscopic alterations in PPs on NBI-ME, and highly altered appearance of PPs can be associated with a high risk of clinical relapse in patients with UC.