title: Cross-sectional imaging modalities in Crohn's disease.
abstract: The standard tools assessing the activity of Crohn's disease (CD) measure the severity of symptoms (the Crohn's Disease Activity Index) or the degree of endoscopic lesions (the Crohn's Disease Endoscopic Index of Severity, the Simplified Endoscopy Score), not the global bowel damage. It is necessary to find new instruments able to assess the structural and functional damage to the intestine and the progression over time. We reviewed recent publications on the accuracy of abdominal ultrasound (US), computed tomography enterography (CTE), and magnetic resonance imaging enterography (MRE) for the assessment of CD. US, CTE and MRE have been shown to have a high and comparable diagnostic accuracy for both the diagnosis and complications of CD, but US and MRE have the major advantage of not imparting ionizing radiation. In summary, findings from these imaging modalities with endoscopic lesions and surgical history incorporating into the Lémann score will allow measuring the global bowel damage at specific time and the progression of disease over time and assessing the impact of different strategies.
authors.affiliation: IBD Center, Gastroenterology, IRCCS Humanitas, Rozzano, Italy.
authors.forename: Mariangela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Allocca
authors.forename: Gionata
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fiorino
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Danese
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography