Introduction: Currently, mucosal healing is considered as a composite treatment end-point in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) since it has been demonstrated to improve disease-related outcomes. The definition of mucosal healing has evolved and current evidence suggests that in addition to endoscopic healing the achievement of histological remission (HR) represents a potential novel target in the management of IBD in relation to better long-term disease outcomes.

Areas covered: We aimed to review the current literature on HR in ulcerative colitis and discuss its limitations and advantages when adopting this potential new target as an ultimate treatment outcome in clinical trials and routine clinical practice.

Expert opinion: HR is achievable in UC with different rates in conventional therapies, biological and novel drugs. Targeting HR in UC lowers the risk of hospitalizations, colectomy, and colorectal cancer. HR occurs later than endoscopic remission, longer treatment courses are associated with higher HR assessment. This might imply modifying monitoring time schedules and algorithms. Prospective data are needed to support histological healing as a new treatment target in UC.

简介：目前，粘膜愈合被认为是炎症性肠病（IBD）的综合治疗终点，因为它已被证明可以改善疾病相关的预后。粘膜愈合的定义已经发展，目前的证据表明，除了内窥镜愈合以外，与更好的长期疾病预后相关，组织学缓解（HR）的实现是IBD管理中潜在的新靶标。

涵盖的领域：我们旨在回顾有关溃疡性结肠炎中HR的最新文献，并讨论在采用这一潜在的新目标作为临床试验和常规临床实践的最终治疗结果时的局限性和优势。

专家意见：在传统疗法，生物和新药中，以不同的比率在UC中可达到HR。以UC为目标的HR可降低住院，结肠切除和结直肠癌的风险。HR发生晚于内镜下缓解，更长的疗程与更高的HR评估相关。这可能意味着修改监视时间表和算法。需要前瞻性数据来支持组织学愈合作为UC中的新治疗靶标。