MR Enterography Eliminates Unnecessary Radiation Exposure in Patients with Crohn's Disease

Magnetic resonance (MR) enterography has been shown to be an effective tool to evaluate and guide treatment of patients with Crohn's disease (a common form of inflammatory bowel disease that typically affects young people) without exposing them to radiation, according to recent research.

"MR enterography is an MR examination targeted at the small bowel. The study included approximately 100 patients and 15 physicians,” said David Grand, M.D., from the Warren Alpert School of Medicine/Brown University (Providence, RI, USA), and lead author of the study. "Nearly 100% of physicians who use MR enterography reported that they found information from the test useful for guiding patient management; patients overwhelmingly preferred MR to the CT [computed tomography],” he said. "This is an ongoing study,” he added.

Crohn's disease usually effects younger individuals and will be a chronic disease throughout their life, requiring them to have multiple diagnostic imaging procedures, according to Dr. Grand. These young patients are too often exposed to multiple doses of ionizing radiation, the long-term effects of which may be quite dangerous. Moreover, patients are frequently given very effective but potentially toxic "biologic” therapies to help reduce inflammation. MR can also be used to see if these compounds are working without exposure to radiation.

"MR enterography is beneficial to the patient because it provides the same information regarding the extent of small bowel disease as CT, but we believe is superior at judging whether disease is active or chronic--all without exposing the patient to radiation. Judging whether disease is active or chronic is critical to deciding on medical versus surgical treatment and we believe MR excels at making this distinction,” said Dr. Grand. "There are many physicians who are using MR to diagnose and guide treatment of patients with Crohn's disease. MR offers an immediate and lasting effect on the management of the disease without exposing patients to radiation.”

This study was presented at the 2009 American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) annual meeting in Boston, MA, USA, on April 26-30, 2009.

Warren Alpert School of Medicine/Brown University


Related Links: