Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasonography in Crohn's Disease Diagnostics

The chronic nature of Crohn's disease (CD) implicates necessity of multiple control assessments throughout patient's life. It is accepted that in patients with CD requiring disease monitoring, magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) and computed tomography enterography (CTE) are--apart from endoscopy--imaging studies of first choice. In practice, diagnostic imaging of patients with CD is troublesome, since MRE is an expensive and complicated study, and CTE exposes patients to high doses of ionizing radiation. Therefore, there is a need for new, both non-invasive and effective, methods of imaging in CD. Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasonography (CEUS) is a relatively new method using gas-filled microbubbles serving as contrast agent. It allows for detailed assessment of blood perfusion within intestine wall and peri-intestinal tissues, which enables detection and monitoring of inflammation and its qualitative assessment. The purpose of this paper is to describe CEUS examination technique and its clinical applications in patients with Crohn's disease.