title: Crohn's disease: multi-detector row CT-enteroclysis appearance of the appendix.
abstract: The objective of our retrospective study was to determine the MDCT-enteroclysis appearance of the appendix in patients with Crohn's disease and to correlate this appearance with the status of the disease. We reviewed the MDCT-enteroclysis examinations of 76 patients with Crohn's disease. Images were analyzed for visualization of the appendix, largest axial diameter of the appendix and degrees of enhancement. Findings were correlated with the status of the disease (active vs. nonactive) and compared with those observed in a control group. Among the various variables, hyperenhancement of the appendiceal wall was found in 18.9% of patients with active disease and in no patients with inactive disease nor in the control group (P = 0.0023). This sign had a specificity of 100% for differentiating between active and inactive Crohn's disease. We conclude that increased appendiceal wall enhancement is, at a statistically significant level, more frequently observed in patients with active Crohn's disease by comparison with patients with inactive disease and control subjects. This result suggests that this finding may be used as an additional MDCT-enteroclysis finding to determine the activity of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Body and Vascular Imaging, Hôpital Lariboisière-AP-HP-GHU Nord & Université Diderot-Paris, France. philippe.soyer@lrb.aphp.fr
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Soyer
authors.forename: Mourad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boudiaf
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Dray
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sirol
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martin-Grivaud
authors.forename: Florent
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Duchat
authors.forename: Yann
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fargeaudou
authors.forename: Lounis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hamzi
authors.forename: Djamel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tiah
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marteau
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rymer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003287:Contrast Media; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D007472:Iohexol; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D007472:Iohexol