BACKGROUND/AIMS: Various etiologies and diseases may be related to erosions and/or small ulcers without gross inflammatory changes in the surrounding mucosa found in the colon and terminal ileum during colonoscopy. However, studies on follow-up of these lesions are rare. Thus, we investigated the clinical significance of these lesions and their characteristics helpful for differential diagnosis.
METHODS: We reviewed the data of 183 patients with colonoscopically observed erosive or small ulcerative lesions (<2 cm), and analyzed them according to the location, number, and size of lesions, histopathologic findings, chief complaints, laboratory findings, changes of symptoms, and changes in lesions during 4-12 week follow-up period.
RESULTS: Histopathologic findings of these lesions included acute nonspecific inflammation, chronic nonspecific inflammation, Crohn´s disease, tuberculous colitis, ischemic colitis, Behcet´s disease, cytomegalovirus infection, eosinophilic colitis, ulcerative colitis or pseudomembranous colitis, but most of them were nonspecific (84%). In patients with nonspecific inflammation, histopathologic findings, symptoms, location and multiplicity of the lesions were not prognostic factors for the persistency of symptoms and lesions during follow-up period. Two patients with acute inflammation, who showed no improvement in symptoms and lesions, were later diagnosed as Crohn´s disease.
CONCLUSIONS: Erosive or small ulcerative lesions without macroscopic inflammatory changes in the surrounding mucosa during colonoscopy, are mainly nonspecific. However, careful follow-up is required when the symptoms and/or lesions are not improved
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