Magnetic resonance enterography: Review of the technique for the study of Crohn's disease

Abstract Crohn's disease is a chronic disease with an unpredictable course. Patients with Crohn's disease will have to undergo numerous imaging tests. Crohn's disease often affects young people, who are more vulnerable to the harmful effects of repeated exposure to ionizing radiation. The high resolution of tissues on MR enterography gives it a diagnostic accuracy similar to that of CT; however, MR enterography does not have the drawback of ionizing radiation. The clinical indices used to assess Crohn's disease are subjective and not very accurate; thus, enterographic techniques are becoming more common in clinical practice as a means to follow up patients objectively. In this article, we describe the MR enterography technique we use to evaluate Crohn's disease. We illustrate the most relevant imaging findings, and we review the subtypes of the disease, the related scientific literature, and the MR indices used to assess the severity of Crohn's disease.