Differentiation Between Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's Disease Using Abdominal Computed Tomography in Patients With First-Time Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Background Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) are classified as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). However, they have different pathogeneses and treatment strategies and need to be differentiated. Purpose To determine the feasibility of differentiating UC from CD in patients with first-time IBD based on simple abdominal computed tomography (CT) findings. Methods We conducted a retrospective study of patients diagnosed with IBD for the first time at our hospital between January and December 2021. Age, sex, white blood cell count, albumin concentration, C-reactive protein concentration, visceral fat area, subcutaneous fat area, and psoas major volume were extracted and used to differentiate the two groups. Results Forty-three patients were selected. Their mean age was 35.60 ± 17.19 years, and 32 were male, while 11 were female. The visceral fat cross-sectional area was 51.80 cm for UC and 21.10 cm for CD (p < 0.01). The subcutaneous fat cross-sectional area was 108.30 cm for UC and 66.30 cm for CD (p = 0.049). The total protein concentration was 6.15 g/L for UC and 6.60 g/L for CD (p = 0.012). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of the visceral and subcutaneous fat cross-sectional areas showed areas under the curve, 95% confidence intervals, sensitivities, and specificities of 0.750 and 0.675, 0.603-0.897 and 0.507-0.844, 0.810 and 1.00, and 0.591 and 0.409, respectively, at cutoffs of 26.53 and 36.6 cm . Conclusions The visceral and subcutaneous fat cross-sectional areas determined with simple abdominal CT can differentiate UC from CD in patients with first-time IBD.