Dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound of the bowel wall with quantitative assessment of Crohn’s disease activity in childhood

Abstract

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) has become an established non-invasive, patient-friendly imaging technique which improves the characterization of lesions. In addition, dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (DCE-US) provides valuable information concerning perfusion of examined organs. This review addresses current applications of CEUS in children, focused on DCE-US of the bowel wall in patients with Crohn disease, which enables realtime assessment of the bowel wall vascularity with semi-quantitative and quantitative assessment of disease activity and response to medical treatment.

Keywords

• contrast-enhanced ultrasound (ceus)
• dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (dce-us)
• crohn disease
• quantification
• children