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High Prevalence of MRI Features of Mesenteric Panniculitis in Chronic Intestinal Inflammation: A Retrospective 3-T

Vahidreza Tehranirad1, Julian Ramin Andresen2, Marc Olaf Liedke3

  • 1Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology/Neuroradiology, Westkuestenklinikum Heide, Academic Teaching Hospital of the Universities of Kiel, Luebeck and Hamburg, Esmarchstraße 50, 25746 Heide, Germany.

Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland)
|June 12, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Mesenteric panniculitis (MP) is common in patients with chronic intestinal inflammation, often appearing on MRI scans. These MP-like changes may be linked to underlying inflammatory conditions rather than being incidental findings.

Area of Science:

  • Gastroenterology
  • Radiology
  • Pathology

Background:

  • Mesenteric panniculitis (MP) is a rare chronic inflammatory and sclerosing disorder affecting mesenteric fat.
  • Its occurrence and imaging characteristics in patients with chronic intestinal inflammation are not well-established.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the prevalence and MRI features of mesenteric panniculitis (MP) in patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and related conditions.
  • To determine if MP is an incidental finding or associated with chronic intestinal inflammation.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of 312 standardized 3-T MRI Sellink examinations.
  • Included 252 patients with chronic intestinal inflammation and 60 controls.
  • MP diagnosis based on at least three of five characteristic MRI findings.

Main Results:

  • MRI signs of MP were present in 70.8% of all patients, and 87.3% of the disease cohort.
  • MP was associated with Crohn's disease (47.3%), sigmoid diverticulitis (40.0%), and ulcerative colitis (12.7%).
  • MP predominantly occurred in the left upper quadrant.

Conclusions:

  • MRI-defined mesenteric panniculitis features are highly prevalent in patients with chronic intestinal inflammatory conditions.
  • MP-like mesenteric changes may be a common imaging correlate of chronic intestinal inflammation.
  • MRI facilitates consistent detection and topographic assessment of MP.
Keywords:
3-T MRICrohn’s diseaseinflammatory bowel diseasemagnetic resonance imagingmesenteric panniculitissigmoid diverticulitisulcerative colitis

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