Human cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus infection in inflammatory bowel disease: Need for mucosal viral load measurement

Figure 5 Presence of holes in the mucosa with exposure of the underlying muscular layer (black arrows), surrounded by granular and spontaneously bleeding zones, is clearly evident (panels A to C). After a three-month washout period from any therapy for the primary disease, the healing process with white scars (red arrow) was observed in the only patient who underwent a cycle with rituximab (panel D), whilst a slight or no improvement was observed in the other two representative cases.