Dark-lumen MR colonography

Magnetic resonance colonography (MRC) has been shown to be an appropriate diagnostic tool for the detection of colorectal pathologies. Recently, dark-lumen MRC has been introduced. This technique is based on the acquisition of a T1-weighted sequence after the administration of water enema and the intravenous administration of paramagnetic contrast. This report describes the underlying techniques of dark-lumen MRC concerning data acquisition and image interpretation. Furthermore, it points out the advantages of this approach as compared with conventional endoscopy or other MR methods. Possible improvements in the future such as the implementation of fecal tagging strategies to avoid bowel cleansing are discussed.