Assessment of disease activity in inflammatory bowel disease: a new approach using 111In granulocyte scanning.

111In leucocyte scanning yields images of diseased bowel in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The technique has recently been improved by being made more specific for acute inflammation by the isolation and labelling of a pure granulocyte preparation. The value of 111In granulocyte scanning in monitoring response to steroid treatment was assessed in 22 patients with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. After steroid treatment there was agreement between the change in the scan grade and the change in clinical disease activity in 18 of the 22 patients. Overall there was a significant correlation between the change in the scan grade and clinical improvement (r = 0.775, p less than 0.001). This study suggests that 111In granulocyte scanning can provide a rapid assessment of disease activity in inflammatory bowel disease.