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Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance without bowel preparation for detecting colonic inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease
  1. Abderrahim Oussalah1,
  2. Valérie Laurent2,
  3. Olivier Bruot2,
  4. Aude Bressenot3,
  5. Marc-André Bigard1,
  6. Denis Régent2,
  7. Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet1
  1. 1Inserm, U954 and Department of Hepato-Gastroenterology, University Hospital of Nancy, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
  2. 2Departement of Radiology, University Hospital of Nancy, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
  3. 3Laboratory of Pathology, University Hospital of Nancy, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France
  1. Correspondence to Professor Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet, Department of Hepato-Gastroenterology, University Hospital of Nancy-Brabois, Allée du Morvan, 54511 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France; peyrin-biroulet{at}netcourrier.com

Abstract

Objective Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enables accurate assessment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), but its main limitation is the need for bowel preparation. Diffusion-weighted imaging is feasible in Crohn's disease. We evaluated the accuracy of MRI in combination with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI-MRI) without oral or rectal preparation in assessing colonic inflammation in both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

Design This was an observational study of a single-centre cohort.

Patients All patients who underwent DWI-MRI-colonography without bowel preparation between January 2008 and February 2010 in our centre were analysed.

Results Among the 96 patients (ulcerative colitis=35; Crohn's disease=61) who had DWI-MRI-colonography, 68 had concomitant endoscopy. In ulcerative colitis a segmental magnetic resonance score (MR-score-S) >1 detected endoscopic inflammation with a sensitivity and specificity of 89.47% and 86.67%, respectively (AUROC=0.920, p=0.0001). In the Crohn's disease group, a MR-score-S >2 detected endoscopic inflammation in the colon with a sensitivity and specificity of 58.33% and 84.48%, respectively (AUROC=0.779, p=0.0001). The MR-score-S demonstrated better accuracy for the detection of endoscopic inflammation in the ulcerative colitis group than in the Crohn's disease group (p=0.003). In ulcerative colitis, the proposed total magnetic resonance score (MR-score-T) correlated with the total modified Baron score (r=0.813, p=0.0001) and the Walmsley index (r=0.678, p<0.0001). In Crohn's disease, the MR-score-T correlated with the simplified endoscopic activity score for Crohn's disease (r=0.539, p=0.001) and the Crohn's disease activity index (r=0.367, p=0.004). The DWI hyperintensity was a predictor of colonic endoscopic inflammation in ulcerative colitis (OR=13.26, 95% CI 3.6 to 48.93; AUROC=0.854, p=0.0001) and Crohn's disease (OR=2.67, 95% CI 1.25 to 5.72; AUROC=0.702, p=0.0001). The accuracy of the DWI hyperintensity for detecting colonic inflammation was greater in ulcerative colitis than in Crohn's disease (p=0.004).

Conclusions DWI-MRI-colonography without bowel preparation is a reliable tool for detecting colonic inflammation in ulcerative colitis.

  • Ulcerative colitis
  • Crohn's disease
  • magnetic resonance colonography
  • diffusion-weighted imaging
  • colonic inflammation
  • abdominal MRI
  • Crohn's colitis
  • inflammation
  • MRI

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Footnotes

  • AO and VL contributed equally to this study.

  • Competing interests None.

  • Ethics approval This study was conducted with the approval of the University Hospital of Nancy.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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