title: Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Evaluation with double-contrast barium examination and endoscopy.
abstract: Double-contrast barium examination of the colon can demonstrate the changes associated with inflammatory bowel disease more completely and specifically than the single-contrast barium study. However, endoscopy is slightly more sensitive than double-contrast examination for detection of disease. In general, between 18% and 20% of patients with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis may be expected to have normal radiographic findings but endoscopically detectable disease. However, most false-negative double-contrast colon studies are associated with mild or minimal findings at proctosigmoidoscopy. Although double-contrast radiography may be less sensitive than endoscopy in detection of inflammatory bowel disease, it has similar accuracy for classification and differentiation. Most studies indicate an accuracy of 95% to 98% in differentiating Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, due to the fact that morphologic changes detected by the double-contrast mucosal study rarely overlap in the two diseases. Double-contrast barium examination and endoscopy are complementary studies, and the use of both may provide valuable information for evaluation of patients with suspected inflammatory bowel disease.
mesh_terms: D001466:Barium Sulfate; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D003106:Colon / Q000473:pathology; D012809:Colon, Sigmoid / Q000473:pathology; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004724:Endoscopy; D004733:Enema; D006801:Humans; D011859:Radiography
chemical_list: D001466:Barium Sulfate