MR motility imaging in Crohn's disease improves lesion detection compared with standard MR imaging.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate retrospectively in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) if magnetic resonance (MR) motility alterations correlate with CD typical lesions leading to an increased detection rate.


METHODS
Forty patients with histologically proven CD underwent MR enterography (MRE), including coronal cine sequences (cine MRE), in addition to the standard CD MR protocol. Two blinded readings were performed with and without cine MRE. Locations presenting motility alterations on the cine sequences were analysed on standard MRE for CD-related lesions. This was compared with a second reading using the standard clinical MRE protocol alone.


RESULTS
The number of lesions localised by cine MRE and identified on standard MRE compared with standard MRE alone were 35/24 for wall thickening (p = 0.002), 24/20 for stenoses (p = 0.05), 17/11 for wall layering (p = 0.02), 5/3 for mucosal ulcers (p = 0.02) and 21/17 for the comb sign (p = 0.05). Overall, cine MRE detected 35 more CD-specific findings than standard MRE alone (124/89; p = 0.007) and significantly more patients with CD-relevant MR findings (34/28; p = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
CD lesions seem to be associated with motility changes and this leads to an increased lesion detection rate compared with standard-MRE imaging alone.
Froehlich
Johannes M
JM
Institute of Diagnostic, Interventional and Pediatric, Radiology, Inselspital, University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland.
Waldherr
Christian
C
Stoupis
Christoforos
C
Erturk
S Mehmet
SM
Patak
Michael A
MA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007422:Intestines / Q000473:pathology*; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult