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MRI of the Small Bowel

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Diseases of the Abdomen and Pelvis 2014–2017

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Abstract

For decades, barium fluoroscopy studies have been the standard of reference to investigate small-bowel diseases. As the small bowel was not accessible to endoscopic techniques, these studies represented the only noninvasive diagnostic approach to the intestine. Both small-bowel follow- through and small-bowel enteroclysis yielded fairly good results, with sensitivities and specificities, respectively, of 98.3% and 99.3% for Crohn’s disease [1] and between 61% and 95% for neoplastic disease [2], notably in assessing the intestinal mucosa due to high spatial resolution. Limitations of this technique are the almost exclusively intraluminal information, and the considerably high radiation exposure of up to 10–18 mSv. Technical advances in cross-sectional imaging by both computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the past 10 years brought about tremendous improvement of image quality in the abdomen, encouraging small-bowel imaging.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Karin A. Herrmann

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  1. Karin A. Herrmann
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Radiology, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland

    J. Hodler

  2. Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland

    G. K. von Schulthess

  3. Radiology, Kantonsspital, Baden, Switzerland

    R. A. Kubik-Huch

  4. Kilchberg/Zurich, Switzerland

    Ch. L. Zollikofer

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Italia

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Herrmann, K.A. (2014). MRI of the Small Bowel. In: Hodler, J., von Schulthess, G.K., Kubik-Huch, R.A., Zollikofer, C.L. (eds) Diseases of the Abdomen and Pelvis 2014–2017. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-5659-6_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-5659-6_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Milano

  • Print ISBN: 978-88-470-5658-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-88-470-5659-6

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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