The clinical value of MRI in the diagnosis of small-bowel diseases

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the feasibility and the clinical value of MRI in the diagnosis of small-bowel disease. Methods Sixty-three patients with suspected small-bowel diseases and 3 volunteers without signs of small bowel disease underwent MRI examination. Thirty-one patients whose diagnoses were confirmed by pathology or clinical results were categorized into two groups (neoplastic and normeoplastic). The conspicuity of bowel wall, the sensitivity of MRI in detecting small-bowel lesions, and the accuracy rate of diagnosis were calculated. The average bowel wall thickness between the two groups was assessed by using Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes, mesenteric infiltration, and small-bowel stenosis were analyzed by using Fisher's exact test in each group respectively. Results MRI examinations of all 66 subjects were successfully performed. Images were rated on a continuous 4-peint scale. Sixty-two cases (93.9%) were scored as 2 or 3. The diagnoses of 31 patients (neoplastic group (n = 10) and nonneoplastic group (n = 21) were confirmed by pathology or clinical results. The sensitivity, accuracy of MRI in identifying small bowel diseases were 100% (31/31) and 77.4% (24/31) respectively. The average bowel wall thickness of the two groups was 23 mm(7.0-65.0 mm) and 5 mm(2.0-35.0 mm) respectively, and there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups (Z = - 2.949, P 0.05). Conclusion MRI can depict the location and extension of the small-bowel disease accurately and it is an effective method in the diagnosis of small-bowel disease. Key words: Intestine,small; Intestinal diseases; Magnetic resonance imaging