Bowel Sonoelastography in Patients with Crohn's Disease: A Systematic Review

L.C. Pescatori, G. Mauri, E. Savarino, L. Pastorelli, M. Vecchi, L.M. Sconfienza

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Sonoelastography is an ultrasound-based method for evaluating the biological properties of a target tissue. It is commonly used in the diagnosis of liver and thyroid disease, but recently its use for monitoring the characteristics of bowel wall in patients affected by Crohn's disease (CD) has been proposed. Our aim was a systematic review of the use of sonoelastography in patients with CD. An initial database search retrieved 32 possible articles. On initial screening, 7 articles, concerning a total of 129 patients and 154 lesions of the small and large bowel, were finally included in the review. The age range varied between 6 and 53 y, and disease duration ranged between 1 and 623 mo. We collected data on the examinations performed (type and time), bowel area considered and parameters evaluated. All authors found that elastography correlates well with the degree of fibrosis, as wall strain significantly decreases in segments affected by fibrotic stenosis. Even though the endpoints proposed in the various articles are relatively inhomogeneous and scarcely comparable, we found that sonoelastography is a promising tool in the evaluation of patients with CD as it can differentiate inflammatory and fibrotic strictures in small case series. © 2018 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)297-302
Number of pages6
JournalUltrasound in Medicine and Biology
Volume44
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

Keywords

  • Bowel stricture
  • Crohn's disease
  • Sonoelastography
  • Diseases
  • Medical imaging
  • Search engines
  • Biological properties
  • Database searches
  • Systematic Review
  • Target tissues
  • Thyroid disease
  • Diagnosis
  • age distribution
  • clinical evaluation
  • Crohn disease
  • diagnostic imaging
  • differential diagnosis
  • disease duration
  • disease severity
  • elastography
  • human
  • intestinal fibrosis
  • priority journal
  • Review
  • sonoelastography
  • systematic review
  • intestine
  • procedures
  • Crohn Disease
  • Elasticity Imaging Techniques
  • Humans
  • Intestines

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