Correlation of Cross Sectional Imaging and Small Intestinal Contrast Ultrasonography in Known Crohn's Disease

Plain-language summary

Small intestinal contrast ultrasound (SICUS) is a modality of intestinal ultrasound (IUS) which does not require any parenteral administration of contrast agent but requires ingestion of around 500 ml of polyethylene glycol (PEG). SICUS does not involve any radiation. Computed tomography enteroclysis (CTE) requires colonic cleansing using polyethylene glycol (PEG) followed by infusion of 1.5 litres of PEG via a nasal catheter to distend and properly visualise the small intestine. CTE although accurate for assessing response to therapy and transmural healing in small bowel CD is associated with radiation and adds to cost of management. Magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) using PEG followed by 2 liters of oral fluid with mannitol was administered to distend and properly visualize the small intestine. MRE although accurate for assessing response to therapy and transmural healing in small bowel CD is associated with radiation and adds to cost of management. On the other hand, SICUS is relatively non-invasive method of small bowel assessment although the accuracy has not been studied prospectively. An earlier retrospective study in which MRE/CTE and SICUS are done within 3 months of each other, SICUS had identified lesions and complications in patients with CD with high levels of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy compared to CT-enteroclysis (3). These findings need prospective validation. The accuracy of SICUS may be suboptimal due to constant peristalsis in the small intestine. Hence the investigators planned this study to perform SICUS in patients with small bowel CD who otherwise require a MRE/CTE for disease monitoring on the same day before the procedure with the same PEG preparation. If SICUS findings are found to correlate with MRE/CTE findings intros study, SICUS have the potential to replace other modalities for monitoring of small bowel Crohn's disease (CD) and emerge as a cost-effective, easy alternative. The investigators also want to understand the drawbacks and limitations of SICUS in this scenario.

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