Background: Intestinal strictures represent an important serious complication of Crohn’s disease (CD). Shear wave elastography (SWE) is one of the promising noninvasive ultrasound techniques for assessing tissue stiffness. This study was aimed to evaluate stiffness at the areas of intestinal stricture in CD patients using SWE, and the changes of stiffness after biologics. Methods: Bowell wall thickness was examined by ultrasound sonography (US) and the stiffness of CD stricture lesions was evaluated using Shear wave speed (SWS) before and one year after anti-TNF-alpha antibody infliximab (IFX), anti-interleukin (IL) 12/23 antibody ustekinumab (UST), and bio-switch from IFX to UST. Results: Bowell wall thickness was significantly improved after IFX, UST, and the bio-switch. However, SWS indices only in the UST group significantly decreased after treatment (p=0.028), but not in the other group. Conclusion: UST may lead to suppression of obstruction in CD naïve patients with stricture lesions.
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