Cross-Sectional Imaging in Crohn's Disease

Clinical impact of cross sectional imaging on the management of patients with Crohn's disease.- Bowel ultrasound in Crohn's disease: imaging protocol and findings.- Bowel elastography in Crohn's disease.- Technical performance of CT and MR small bowel and colonic imaging.- MR enterography and CT enterography for detecting activity and complications.- Functional imaging technique on CT enterography and MR enterography.- Role of imaging for detecting bowel fibrosis and bowel damage.- Perianal Crohn's disease.- Cross-sectional imaging indexes in Crohn's disease.

This book comprehensively describes the state of the art in cross-sectional imaging of Crohn's disease from both a clinical and a radiological perspective. The uses and impact of the different imaging techniques in daily practice and research are thoroughly examined, with coverage of ultrasound, computed tomography and magnetic resonance. In addition, emerging trends are scrutinized. The background to the book is an increasing perception that intestinal inflammation and complications are underdiagnosed using standard endoscopic or surgical techniques. Patients with Crohn's disease usually require multiple reassessments during their lifetimes and often favor noninvasive techniques with a low risk of complications. These factors have reinforced the need for effective cross-sectional imaging techniques. Additionally, the expanding use of biologic agents, combined with their increased efficacy, expense, and risk, justifies the use of these techniques (particularly ultrasound and magnetic resonance) to monitor disease treatment and objectively measure inflammation and healing. Cross-Sectional Imaging in Crohn's Disease will be of high value for both gastroenterologists and diagnostic radiologists.

Jordi Rimola, MD, PhD is a Radiologist subspecialized in abdominal and gastrointestinal imaging and member of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Unit directed by Dr. Julian Panes in Barcelona. He has had a leading role in the application of cross-sectional imaging techniques to the study of Crohn's disease, development and validation of activity indices, and implementation of MRE in multicentric clinical studies. He participated in the ECCO-ESGAR guidelines elaboration and in different other expert consensus and recommendations documents.