Intestinal Ultrasounds Can Provide Immediate Answers, Decrease Need for Endoscopy

Inflammatory bowel disease typically requires more frequent colonoscopies, but using an intestinal ultrasound may help patients avoid having to undergo invasive procedures as often.

It was 2020 when Toni Bacon said she noticed some unusual symptoms.

"I started to have blood, diarrhea, everything, and then, I was diagnosed," Bacon said. "Prior to that, I had had just a baseline colonoscopy, you know, when you're over 40 or whatever, and they detected some mild inflammation, but we didn't really treat it."

Bacon, 62, who was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, said she was glad that the COVID-19 pandemic kept people at home because it was too hard to go out in public with her symptoms. Then, she started treatments.

"We started with an infusion for Remicade, and that seemed to work right away. But I had this narrowing. I had developed a stricture in my intestine from all of this, I guess," Bacon said.

Bacon connected with Raymond K. Cross, Jr., M.D., MS, AGAF, FACG, medical director of The Center for Inflammatory Bowel and Colorectal Diseases, part of The Melissa L. Posner Institute for Digestive Health & Liver Disease at Mercy in Baltimore, Maryland. 

Bacon underwent surgery for a colon resection to take care of the stricture and had 11 inches of her colon removed.

According to Dr. Cross, colonoscopies are extremely important in gathering more information when it comes to gastrointestinal issues. But with advances in technology, tools like intestinal ultrasounds can help people like Bacon keep an eye on their condition.

"Ultrasound is an imaging, noninvasive, point-of-care test, so a patient could come into the office [for] either a routine checkup, or they're having some symptoms and you're trying to evaluate it, and the ultrasound is going to give us a good look at their entire colon minus the rectum and the end of the small bowel terminal ileum," Dr. Cross said.

Bacon said she's glad ultrasounds can be performed right in the doctor's office.

"To come in for a routine checkup and then just go right down the hall for the ultrasound, rather than preparing for the colonoscopy and all that, really is helpful to have that information," Bacon said.

"The other really nice thing about ultrasound is it can decrease the need for endoscopy," Dr. Cross explained. "So, every time a patient has a change in symptoms, before you make a change in treatment, it's really important that you verify that there's inflammation there because there are other things that can cause symptoms and we don't want to make a change unnecessarily."

Since the surgery and her current infusions, Bacon said she's feeling great and that she will go for a colonoscopy every two years.

View the interview with board-certified gastroenterologist Dr. Raymond Cross of The Institute for Digestive Health and Liver Disease at Mercy.