Histological activity in ulcerative colitis on a five-grade scale built from three items — ulceration, acute inflammatory infiltrate and chronic inflammatory infiltrate.
What is scored
The calculator collects 3 items:
Presence of Mucosal Ulceration
Acute Inflammatory Cells
Chronic Inflammatory Infiltrate
Any item left blank stops the score being calculated — an incomplete form never reports as remission.
Limitations
Requires a pathologist reporting in this format; it cannot be derived from a narrative histology report. Grading depends on the biopsy taken, and sampling a quiescent segment will understate activity. Histological remission is not yet a formal treatment target in guidelines, so a grade should not by itself drive escalation.
References
Marchal-Bressenot A, Salleron J, Boulagnon-Rombi C, Bastien C, Cahn V, Cadiot G, et al. Development and validation of the Nancy histological index for UC. Gut 2017;66:43-49. PMID 26464414. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2015-310187
Content last reviewed 2026-10-10. References were resolved against PubMed, a service of the US National Library of Medicine, which does not endorse this site.
Use the calculator
Nancy Histological Index is implemented as an interactive calculator in IBD Care, with its full guidance and scoring bands.