Magnetic resonance imaging of the small bowel in children with idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease: evaluation of disease activity.
BACKGROUND
Examinations using ionizing radiation are frequently used in the evaluation of disease activity in children affected by idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).


OBJECTIVE
To develop an MR imaging protocol without the need for fluoroscopic insertion of an enteral tube and to assess the disease activity in children with IBD.


METHODS
Included in the study were 37 children (22 girls and 15 boys; age range 7-15 years, mean 11.67 years) with IBD who underwent MR imaging of the small bowel. Of these 37 children, 32 had Crohn disease and 5 had indeterminate colitis. A water solution containing herbal fibres was administered orally or through a nasogastric tube. Patients were imaged on a 1.5-T MR scanner with T1-weighted and Tau2-weighted sequences followed by a dynamic study using 3-D T1-W images after intravenous administration of gadolinium.


RESULTS
The percentage enhancement of the bowel wall was significantly increased in patients with abnormal C-reactive protein (CRP) values compared to patients with CRP values in the normal range (P<0.001). A relatively weak but significant correlation between percentage enhancement of the bowel wall and CRP values was noted during all phases of enhancement.


CONCLUSIONS
This MR imaging protocol is a safe and well-tolerated method for evaluating disease activity and extraintestinal manifestations of IBD in children.
Alexopoulou
Efthymia
E
Second Department of Radiology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, General University Hospital, Attikon, Rimini 1 Street, Athens, 12462, Greece.
Roma
Eleftheria
E
Loggitsi
Dimitra
D
Economopoulos
Nikos
N
Papakonstantinou
Olympia
O
Panagiotou
Ioanna
I
Pahoula
Ioanna
I
Kelekis
Nikolaos L
NL
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity