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World J Radiol. Jun 28, 2016; 8(6): 571-580
Published online Jun 28, 2016. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v8.i6.571
Advanced multimodality imaging of inflammatory bowel disease in 2015: An update
Emma Stanley, Heather K Moriarty, Carmel G Cronin
Emma Stanley, Heather K Moriarty, Carmel G Cronin, Department of Radiology, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin 7, Ireland
Author contributions: Stanley E performed the majority of the writing, and prepared the figures; Moriarty HK obtained figures and performed writing; Cronin CG provided the input in writing the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest associated with any of the senior author or other coauthors contributed their efforts in this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Emma Stanley, Radiology Resident, Department of Radiology, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Eccles Street, Dublin 7, Ireland. estanley@mater.ie
Telephone: +353-1-8032000
Received: November 11, 2015
Peer-review started: November 13, 2015
First decision: January 18, 2016
Revised: February 22, 2016
Accepted: March 9, 2016
Article in press: March 14, 2016
Published online: June 28, 2016
Processing time: 220 Days and 1.8 Hours
Abstract

The diagnosis and effective management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) requires a combination clinical, endoscopic, histological, biological, and imaging data. While endoscopy and biopsy remains the gold standard for diagnosis of IBD, imaging plays a central role in the assessment of extra mural disease, in disease surveillance and in the assessment of response to medical treatments, which are often expensive. Imaging is also vital in the detection and diagnosis of disease related complications, both acute and chronic. In this review, we will describe, with illustrative images, the imaging features of IBD in adults, with emphasis on up-to-date imaging techniques focusing predominantly on cross sectional imaging and new magnetic resonance imaging techniques.

Keywords: Crohn’s disease; Multimodality imaging; Ulcerative colitis; Magnetic resonance imaging; Positron emission tomography; Inflammatory bowel disease; Cross sectional imaging

Core tip: This review article provides a comprehensive overview of the multimodality imaging findings of acute and chronic inflammatory bowel disease, and of the role of imaging in the diagnosis and surveillance of this disease. There is an emphasis on up-to-date imaging including ultrasound elastography, magnetic resonance (MR) motility imaging, magnetisation MR and positron emission tomography magnetic resonance imaging, as well as a review of the currently widely used imaging techniques such as computed tomography and MR enterography.