Crohn’s disease at radiological imaging: focus on techniques and intestinal tract

Abstract

Over recent years, inflammatory bowel diseases have become an issue of increased attention in daily clinical practice, due to both a rising incidence and improved imaging capability in detection. In particular, the diagnosis of Crohn’s disease is based on clinical picture, laboratory tests and colonoscopy with biopsy. However, colonoscopic evaluation is limited to the mucosal layer. Thus, imaging modalities play a pivotal role in enriching the clinical picture, delivering information on intestinal and extraintestinal involvement. All the imaging modalities can be employed in evaluation of Crohn’s disease patients, each of them with specific strengths as well as limitations. In this wide selection, the choice of a proper diagnostic framework can be challenging for the clinician. Therefore, the aim of this work is to offer an overview of the different imaging techniques, with brief technical details and diagnostic potential related to each intestinal tract.

Keywords

• crohn disease
• fluoroscopy
• ultrasound
• computed tomography
• magnetic resonance imaging