Published online Jun 7, 2018. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v24.i21.2279
Peer-review started: January 19, 2018
First decision: February 3, 2018
Revised: March 28, 2018
Accepted: April 26, 2018
Article in press: April 26, 2018
Published online: June 7, 2018
Processing time: 136 Days and 1.2 Hours
To examine the correlation between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and endoscopic index of severity (CDEIS) in patients with Crohn’s disease (CD).
This was a retrospective study of 104 patients with CD that were treated at the Ruijin Hospital between March 2015 and May 2016. Among them, 61 patients with active CD were evaluated before/after treatment. MRI and endoscopy were performed within 7 d. CDEIS was evaluated. MRI parameters included MaRIA scores, total relative contrast enhancement (tRCE), arterial RCE (aRCE), portal RCE (pRCE), delay phase RCE (dRCE), and apparent diffusion coefficient. The correlation and concordance between multiple MRI findings and CDEIS changes before and after CD treatment were examined.
Among the 104 patients, 61 patients were classified as active CD and 43 patients as inactive CD. Gender, age, disease duration, and disease location were not significantly different between the two groups (all P > 0.05). CRP levels were higher in the active group than in the inactive group (25.12 ± 4.12 vs 5.14 ± 0.98 mg/L, P < 0.001). Before treatment, the correlations between CDEIS and MaRIAs in all patients were r = 0.772 for tRCE, r = 0.754 for aRCE, r = 0.738 for pRCE, and r = 0.712 for dRCE (all MaRIAs, P < 0.001), followed by MRI single indexes. Among the active CD patients, 44 cases were remitted to inactive CD after treatment. The correlations between CDEIS and MaRIAs were r = 0.712 for aRCE, r = 0.705 for tRCE, r = 0.685 for pRCE, and r = 0.634 for dRCE (all MaRIAs, P < 0.001).
Arterial MaRIA should be an indicator for CD follow-up and dynamic assessment. CD treatment assessment was not completely concordant between CDEIS and MRI.
Core tip: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is accurate in evaluating Crohn’s disease (CD) activity and treatment efficacy, but endoscopy (CD endoscopic index of severity) is still the first choice. There are few available data about the concordance between MRI and endoscopy findings before and after treatment. This study provides evidence that MRI indicators are the most sensitive when the disease progresses.