A Quantitative Method of Estimating Inflammation in the Rectal Mucosa

Abstract

Histological preparations of the rectal mucosa were analyzed quantitatively in 61 patients with ulcerative colitis in remission (UCR). Four histological variables were recorded: the diameter (minor axis) of the lumen of 10 consecutive (transversally cut) glands, the interglandular linear distance between 10 consecutive glands, the number of glands at high-power field examination, and the number of nuclei in 10 consecutive areas of lamina propria. The most important feature to differentiate UCR patients from non-colitic patients was the distance between glands and the number of glands per area. The sum of the values of the four variables demonstrated that 84% of the patients with UCR had scores of 22 or more, whereas only 1 of 124 non-colitic patients (that is, 0.8%) had similar scores.

Key words:

• Inflammation
• quantitation
• rectal mucosa
• ulcerative colitis