TY - JOUR
T1 - Bowel Sonoelastography in Patients with Crohn's Disease
T2 - A Systematic Review
AU - Pescatori, Lorenzo Carlo
AU - Mauri, Giovanni
AU - Savarino, Edoardo
AU - Pastorelli, Luca
AU - Vecchi, Maurizio
AU - Sconfienza, Luca Maria
N1 - Copyright © 2018 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/2
Y1 - 2018/2
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Journal Article
KW - Review
U2 - 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2017.10.004
DO - 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2017.10.004
M3 - Review article
C2 - 29195757
VL - 44
SP - 297
EP - 302
JO - Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology
JF - Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology
SN - 0301-5629
IS - 2
ER -