Review for 10.1186/s12876-016-0462-z (2016)

Reviewer ’s report  
Title:  Fecal calprotectin level correlated with both endoscopic severity and disease extent in 
ulcerative colitis  
 
Version:  0 Date:  26 Nov 2015  
 
Reviewer:  Oliver  Bachmann  
 
Reviewer's report:  
The major shortcoming of this study is the fact that it basically answers one question, which is 
the correlation of FC with the M -MES, and which has been answered and published in a 
previous paper by Lobatòn et al. Additional validation of the mentioned end oscopic score is 
certainly important, but the manuscript could be strengthened by providing additional data. What 
about other endoscopic scores (see discussion)? One very interesting issue is histologic healing; 
were samples taken during the endoscopies?  
 
P6L19: Studies on vedolizumab should be included  
P6L38: Citation needed for the mentioned recommendation  
P6L51: The studies dating from the 90s regarding FC stability are considered obsolete by most 
experts, 3 -4 days is more realistic  
P8L58: It should be mentioned how and when infectious complications were excluded  
P9L15: Given the fact that UC changes its extent very frequently and this is a cross -sectional 
study including full colonoscopy, it seems counter -intuitive to use historic endoscopic 
findings to  determine the extent  
P10L6: Why were patients excluded when the cecum was not reached? Is colonoscopy 
reaching the margin of inflammation not sufficient? Explanation missing  
P10L15: Does this mean the exam was videotaped and the video was then evaluated b y 
additional experts? Please clarify  
P15L32: This should not be a technical problem, FC can also be determined in liquid stools?  
Table1: 76% of patients were in remission, why were they scheduled for an endoscopy? Please 
provide a justification for the per formed exams, since this is an observational study  
Table1: It is not clear how many patients had topical therapy, which could be interesting for the 
interpretation of the FC values given the possibility of relative rectal sparing  
 
Are the methods appropriate  and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
Yes 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
Yes 
Are the conclusions drawn adeq uately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
Yes 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended , please specify what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
I recommend additional statistical review  
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
Acceptable  
Declaration of competing interests  
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