Crohn disease of the small bowel: MR enteroclysis versus conventional enteroclysis

Enteroclysis has been suggested as the technique of choice for the evaluation of Crohn disease of the small intestine. Adequate distention of the entire small bowel with barium suspension allows the radiologic demonstration of mucosal abnormalities and provides functional information by defining distensibility or fixation of the small bowel loops. The principal disadvantage of conventional enteroclysis is the limited indirect information on the state of the bowel wall and extramural extension of Crohn disease, and its effectiveness may be hindered owing to overlapping bowel loops. Moreover, the radiation dose administered to patients, mostly at a young age, should be considered. Magnetic resonance (MR) enteroclysis is an emerging technique for small bowel imaging and was introduced to overcome the limitations of conventional enteroclysis and MR cross-sectional imaging by combining the advantages of both into one technique. MR enteroclysis has the potential to change how the small bowel is assessed because of the functional information, soft tissue contrast, direct multiplanar imaging capabilities, and lack of ionizing radiation.