title: Measurement of MRI enhancement kinetics for evaluation of inflammatory activity in Crohn's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the feasibility of determining local inflammatory activity of Crohn's disease by measurement of bowel wall perfusion kinetics using contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-six patients with histologically proven Crohn's disease who underwent magnetic resonance (MR) enteroclysis at 1.5 T were included in this retrospective study. Over 109 s, 150 images were acquired with a fat-saturated coronal T1-weighted 2D gradient echo sequence (TR, 9 ms; TE, 1.5 ms) during intravenous contrast administration by means of a pump (Magnevist, 0.2 ml/kg, flow 3 ml/s). On each image, signal intensity was measured in a region of interest placed in an area of maximum thickening of the inflamed bowel wall. Enhancement kinetics were correlated with the endoscopically determined severity of inflammatory activity (on a scale of 0-3).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The slope of the contrast enhancement curve significantly correlated with local inflammatory activity determined by endoscopy (R=0.594, P=.007). No significant correlation was found for area under the curve and peak maximum (R=0.411, P=.08 and R=0.334, P=.15, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Determination of the perfusion kinetics of the bowel wall by MRI enables quantitative evaluation of local inflammatory activity in patients with Crohn's disease.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Strahlenheilkunde, Charité Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany. rainer.roettgen@charite.de
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Röttgen
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Grandke
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grieser
authors.forename: Lukas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lehmkuhl
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hamm
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lüdemann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D007249:Inflammation / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism*; D007700:Kinetics; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008657:Metabolic Clearance Rate; D008954:Models, Biological; D055420:Perfusion Imaging / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA