title: Combined diagnostic imaging of Crohn's disease: an outlook.
abstract: Crohn's disease is an inflammatory disease of the mucosa and bowel wall layers involving peritoneal, mesenteric structures and lymph nodes. The combination of the various imaging procedures plays a major role in the evaluation of Crohn's disease patients, based on which an optimal definition of the disease stage is achieved. This is required for a correct therapeutic strategy that can be exclusively medical, surgical or elective in complications. In the combined approach, the follow-through study of the small bowel and enteroclysis in particular, represents the examination of choice to document the early disease, early signs of recurrence with the demonstration of all mucosal alterations, including fistulous tracts. Sonography, CT and MRI allow the evaluation of Crohn's location in the wall and adjacent region. Preliminary results of CT-enteroclysis and MR-enteroclysis seem able to document mucosal alterations and morphofunctional characteristics In the near future these new examinations could become a real one-stop-shop coupled with wireless endoscopy in the study of Crohn's disease.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Radiologia, Università Cattolica del S. Cuore, Policlinico A. Gemelli, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168 Roma, Italy. iclrx@rm.unicatt.it
authors.forename: Amorino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vecchioli
authors.forename: Maria Gabriella
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Brizi
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Masselli
authors.forename: Laura Maria
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Minordi
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parrella
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Celi
authors.forename: Paoletta
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mirk
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marano
mesh_terms: D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans