Predictive factors for development of chronic pouchitis after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis in ulcerative colitis

Background: No previous studies have examined predictive factors for chronic pouchitis after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) for ulcerative colitis (UC) with consideration of changes in pouchitis subtypes during follow-up. This study evaluated the independent predictive factors for chronic pouchitis. Methods: A total of 244 consecutive patients who underwent IPAA were enrolled. We assessed the possible associations between pouchitis and clinical factors using Cox proportional hazard regression. Results: 231 patients met the inclusion criteria. 66 (28.5%) patients developed pouchitis. In 9 of 44 (20.4%) patients, antibiotic-responsive pouchitis at the first episode changed into chronic pouchitis after the occurrence of a subsequent episode. The median duration from occurrence of antibiotic-responsive pouchitis to alteration into chronic pouchitis was 502 (range 147-1,697) days. Overall pouchitis was finally classified into 35 acute pouchitis and 31 chronic pouchitis cases. Multivariate analysis revealed that a ≥7.5-g cumulative steroid dose before colectomy and a ≥500-mg monthly steroid dose just before colectomy were significant predictive factors for chronic pouchitis (p = 0.0001 and 0.0095, respectively). Conclusion: Patients with UC and a higher cumulative steroid dose before colectomy or higher monthly steroid dose just before colectomy may have a predictive factor for developing chronic pouchitis.