Long-term follow-up of nonspecific small bowel ulcers with a benign course and no requirement for surgery: is this a distinct group?

Table 1 Clinical feature of patients with nonspecific small-bowel ulcers

	Sex	Age (years)	Duration of symptom(s) before diagnosis (years)	Indication for colonoscopy	Treatment	Duration of follow-up (years)	Outcome (symptom)	Outcome (endoscopy)
Case 1	Male	47	3	Diarrhea plus abdominal pain	Probiotics	8	Partly improved	Persistent
Case 2	Male	61	11	Abdominal pain	None	9	Partly improved	Self-limiting
Case 3	Female	50	1	Abdominal pain plus bloating	Probiotics	6	Persistent	Persistent
Case 4	Male	53	10	Diarrhea plus abdominal discomfort	5-ASA, probiotics and Claritin	6	Partly improved	Persistent
Case 5	Male	52	1	Abdominal pain	Herbal medicine and probiotics	8	Asymptomatic	Self-limiting
Case 6	Female	44	0.5	Diarrhea plus abdominal discomfort	5-ASA and probiotics	5	Asymptomatic	Recurrent
Case 7	Male	76	*	Surveillance for polyps	None	7	*	Persistent

5-ASA: 5-asalazine
* This patient was asymptomatic and ileal ulcers were accidentally found during a surveillance colonoscopy for polyps.

ISSN: 1471-230X